Newmania: The 41%ers

On Friday October 7, 2011, Anna Bligh, Premier of Queensland, issued a media release to announce that Queensland MPs would receive a 2.5% pay rise, in line with the Queensland Government Wages policy. The base salary of a parliamentarian rose to $137,149 per annum. A few other random increases were also made, but these were small (less than 5%, and in some cases, the result of increased responsibility.) The Bligh Government, just months out from the election which ultimately devastated the Labor Party in Queensland, was unpopular. The 2011 pay rise prompted the usual questions about whether our politicians deserved this pay rise.

The magnitude of the raise in 2011 was around the same as a lot of people receive each year; it’s a “cost of living” increase, although these regular adjustments disappeared for all but the lucky few during the worst of the Global Financial Crisis.

Queensland is, as usual, a law unto itself. Just ask any one of our LNP state members and they’ll be only too happy to tell you that Queensland is broke, and can’t afford any of the “luxuries” we used to take for granted, like services for our disabled, older workers, LGBTI community, tenants, abused women and writers. Our besieged MPs are being forced to break election promises to reduce the cost of living because they can’t afford to fund them. There is to be no discretionary spending; the surplus is the only thing that matters.

Do not despair, Queenslanders. Not everything is out of reach.

In what Acting Premier Jeff Seeney is describing as “revenue neutral”, Queensland politicians will see their base salaries leap by 41.8%, from $137,149 to $194,481, making them the highest paid state politicians in Australia, a country which already pays its politicians more than almost any other country, excluding Japan and Italy. Premier Newman is on annual leave, conveniently avoiding the fallout from this appalling decision.

In fact, this salary increase puts Queensland politicians over the top in terms of their base salary. They now earn more than the median salary of professors, and business executives, twice as much as the median salary of corporate lawyers, project managers and family doctors, and almost five times more than the median wage for aged care workers, hairdressers and customer service representatives.

I’m pleased for the people of Queensland that the Acting Premier has declared this monster of a pay rise to be revenue neutral, and that he can cut electorate allowances and the like to fund this pay rise, but I’m not satisfied. If electoral allowances and party funding can be cut now to fund a pay rise of mammoth proportions, why can't they be cut to fund other, more justifiable programmes?

Last year, I was awarded a pay rise. My role had expanded, I’d gained experience and seniority, produced results and I’d studied to learn more and have my skills recognised. Before my pay rise could become a reality, my line manager and I had to assess my work and develop a new position description, which was then graded by our senior Human Resources Manager (using the Hay Grade Job Evaluation methodology). The HR Manager made a recommendation to my senior manager, based on the Hay Grade results, and the pay rise had to be signed off by a member of the executive group. In other words, my claim for a pay rise was investigated, evaluated and approved.

Where are the investigations and the evaluations that would justify this 41.8% pay increase for Queensland MPs?

Queensland MPs are of the opinion that they don’t need to justify this gift, because legally, their salaries are tied to the salaries of Federal MPs, and that the Queensland Government would be in breach of the law if it did not apply the proscribed increases.

In reality, this pay increase needs more justification than anything else the Newman Government has done. The voters are unhappy – today’s Newpoll results show that Labor is improving in the 2 Party Preferred calculations and King Campbell’s popularity is falling. Luckily for the LNP, Queensland Labor has neither the numbers nor the leader take advantage of the trend.

Nine News will report tonight that the first year alone of this pay increase is worth $6 million dollars. At an average salary of $82,000, (plus 40% built up costs) that’s over 50 full time jobs that could be funded. It’s money that could be directed to support the minority groups whose assistance has been cut. It’s hospital beds that could be reopened or a slightly less humiliating pay rise for our emergency workers.

Labor’s newest Queensland MP, Jackie Trad, has refused to accept the pay rise, requesting the Clerk of the Parliament not to process the increase.

"If this request cannot be met than I will ensure any wage increase beyond reinstatement of the electorate allowance be quarantined in a fund to support community projects in South Brisbane, particularly those that have lost funding under the Newman LNP Government."

How does your local MP feel about a 41% pay rise after slashing over 14,000 jobs and numerous services, while simultaneously fighting our critical state employees over interim 2-3% increases?

Contact your local MP via email and ask for justification: the address will be @parliament.qld.gov.au, or click here for the list of contact details for every Queensland Member of Parliament. Don’t forget to copy in the Premier.

Emergency Resources

Does anyone know exactly how many Queensland Public Servants have already been cut by King Campbell? It’s a lot. We know that, and the 14,000 figure keeps popping up – but is that the total number? Or is that the number announced in the budget, not including people previously made redundant? There are so many stories with so many numbers, it’s easy to lose track of the numbers, and easier still to lose sight of the sad truth that we’re not counting odd buttons or bonbonnieres. These are people. Families. Communities. It’s our community.


The worst of is the brutality with which the whole disaster has been conducted. It’s heartless – economic and emotional despair for most of those who’ve lost their jobs, and even more work with less resources and little motivation for those who kept their jobs. It’s not easy to find an accurate number, but it would appear that around 24,000 people have already been cut – that’s over 10% of the public service. Furthermore, it’s estimated that around 80% of those made redundant by the cuts are female. It’s not business as usual for these people. Nothing is “as usual” – and it’s LNP super-donor Clive Palmer who has kicked in funds along with the ALP Federal Government, to assist the outplaced workers find new opportunities.

No-one outside the Public Service is talking all that much about the restructuring that is going on within departments though. Offices of people, colleagues and team-mates, are being split up and moved into departments where they don’t know the people or the workflow – or even what the department does.

Project Managers are being kept on while their projects – and sometimes their entire departments – are put on hold, or merged with others, or abandoned altogether. I know at least one public servant who took her long service leave, came back and is now going from office to office in her building, asking if anyone needs any filing done, because she’s still getting her public service salary, but the projects she was managing are gone. She’ll be needed again. I know of two others, friends of friends, who were made redundant while on maternity leave.

They’re talking about the dramatic restructuring inside the Public Service though, and King Campbell has started to notice that there’s collateral damage. He is learning that even if he disregards the 24,000 people who have lost their jobs, life does not just go on for those left behind. Anecdotally, morale is down, productivity and service delivery are down, sick leave is up. Few staffers want to remain with the Public Service, but resignation in an environment of rising unemployment is too big a risk to take.

Last week, the Premier’s Department started putting out feelers for current employees within the Queensland Public Service who are qualified and experienced Change Managers to make themselves are known. Apparently, someone in the Premier’s Office has noticed that people – the ones who are still on the payroll– are reacting negatively to the change. Things are being missed, handovers of responsibility isn’t happening, programmes are being scrapped, or merged, or defunded without reference to the consequences. Communication is chaotic. I’m not talking about mass rallies, union action and petitions here; it’s just twigged with someone that in order for the Queensland Government to continue to function as a primary service provider through this period of major transition, it needs some experts to help steady the ship. Of course, it can’t recruit Contract Change Specialists, so it’s recruiting from within, potentially leaving other projects without resources.
And if King Campbell hadn’t been in quite such a hurry, he could have limited much of the damage by having Change Managers in place before the state’s services were shredded.

Meanwhile, many miles away from the executive buildings, life does go on, and those of us stuck in the Newmanian private sector still rely on dramatically downsized Newmanian Public Service to provide for us. How on earth can we survive if standards fall? 


As far back as late May, when the King Campbell’s crown was only two months old, his government suspended the recruitment and training of fire-fighters. There are no new fire-fighters coming through the system, and let me remind you: fighting fires is not like being a political bean-counter. It is a young man’s game that requires extraordinary fitness and incredible courage. And here in Newmania, we’ve stopped recruiting new fire-fighters, a professional already battling a skills crisis. And again, it’s been handled with all the grace and skill of the proverbial bull in the china shop:

"Our office has received numerous calls from job applicants who have participated in extensive assessment at their own cost, were shortlisted and interviewed for the August recruit course.

Applicants only received a brief letter stating that recruiting is suspended until further notice, it is an absolute disgrace the way these people have been treated " Mr Oliver said.

Yesterday, the townhouse adjoining mine caught fire and I rang 000. Actually, I relived a recurring nightmare, where I need to ring 000, but I can’t dial the number, or no-one answers, or they can’t help… I admit, I was shaking so much; it took two goes to get through. Our local firies were there within a few minutes, by which time I had awoken the tenant, the complex manager had been able to get the fire under control, and my trusty little extinguisher finished the job off. My neighbour spent a few hours in hospital, and eventually I stopped shaking.




These guys in the yellow suits are incredible.

 You see, it’s all about be prepared. Stuff happens: If King Campbell knew he was going to gut the Public Service, why didn’t he wait a few extra days while he got a team in place who know how to do these things with a minimum of disruption. Why didn’t he prepare properly?

And now, his drive to cut costs is costing us the next class cohort of fire-fighters. I was lucky yesterday. What if it’s Mr Newman’s house with smoke pouring out of it, and there aren’t enough fire-fighters to save his home, or enough ambos to save his family? I’m not suggesting that any of us should become Doomsday Preppers, but we should at least think about what we might need to have on hand in case of an emergency. It can be the little things – a phone number, an extinguisher, a change manager – that make the difference between something stupid and total devastation.

Newmania: Weasel Words



Steve Austin



This morning, ABC’s Steve Austin, asked his listeners to submit their questions – and presumably their comments – for Queensland Premier Campbell Newman. You can hear the interview, here.

I’ve also whipped up a rough transcript (E&OE), as I like to consider the words, get in there and experience them. Sometimes, just hearing them isn’t enough.

  SA: What are the cutbacks to the public service meant to achieve? What’s the bottom line aim?

CN: I’m glad you asked me that, and what I’ll give you is the most recent Moody’s Investor Service assessment of all the Australian states and their budgets, and I’ve tagged two pages there, including the deficits of the various states: Queensland’s deficit is, sadly, head and shoulders above all the other states. We will have this year an operating deficit of at least $4b, a fiscal deficit of around $10b, compared to NSW which is less than $4b. This state is in a terrible financial position. The other one is the level of debt. Queensland’s debt is just so much more than the other states in terms of debt to revenue ratio, which is the key indicator that the ratings agencies who set the interest rates, and the lenders, who finance the activities of this government, look to. So, we pay a higher interest rate than any other state on our borrowings and the reason is contained in this thing, so what we’re trying to do is balance the budget. We’re gonna do that in 2014-15; we’ve got to stop borrowing to pay wages and to keep the lights on. This government was elected to do that. We have a plan to sort the mess out that we inherited from Anna Bligh and Labor, and that’s exactly what we’re doing.

SA: I understand that, and we know the causes of the fiscal position, and that is two cyclones, a flood and a Global Financial Crisis, and I’m asking you, what’s the aim of all these cuts.

CN: That is complete nonsense. The Federal Government imposed a levy on people and provided very generous capital subsidy payments over the last few years. Billions of dollars paid to Queensland to help rebuild. The reason for the huge operating debt is contained in this, and it says, the expenditure, the head count, went through the roof and the revenues didn’t increase at the same rate, so the expenditure in Queensland has gone up by 8.7% each year for the last 4-5 years compound, and we’re spending far more than we bring in. It’s like household budget – blah blah blah – mad uncontrolled fashion – then you end up with budgetary problem, and we have 20,000 more people than we can afford to pay, and we’ve been paying them by borrowing, and it has to stop and it will stop.

SA: I understand that, and the Moody’s Rating Agency does not run Queensland. You do. What’s the aim of the cuts?

CN: The aim is to stop the escalation of runaway recurrent costs; it’s about getting the budget back into balance, and that’s what we will achieve in 2014-2015.

SA: It looks like the aim of the cuts is to keep your pre-election promises. In other words, you made promises you couldn’t fund, prior to the state election, and now public servants are the chief victims of this.

CN: Well Steve, that’s what the Labor Party says, but it’s not true. The bottom line is that we’re gonna have an operating budget deficit of at least $4b this year. Our promises didn’t add up to anything like that. It was around the $2b mark, and they’re all fully costed and built in to the way forward. We’ve found savings to pay for our promises, as we said. The problem is, we have too many people. If you look at the numbers of the public service in Queensland, it just exploded over the last 4-5 years, when Anna Bligh – it’s particularly Anna Bligh, although a lot of people like to blame Peter Beattie, I don’t – it was the Bligh Government who absolutely threw away the rule book, the sensibility of running the budget properly, and hence we’ve got the problems we’ve got, and that’s what we have to do, so it’s very hard, it’s very tough, but we have a plan to get back in the black, and you know what? I’m heartened by the feedback I got yesterday. I spent all day at the Ekka, seven hours walking around, and the overwhelming sentiment was “Premier, we know these are tough times and tough decisions, but please keep doing the right thing. We understand that you’re getting the state back in track.”

SA: When you spoke with me last time, you told me that this is what most people were saying; that most people were saying that we know it’s a tough thing, but that we want you to do it, and that no-one was complaining. I’ve been given an email from someone who emailed your office in July, where they complained directly to your electorate office, expressing their real concern about what you did. Not only were they expressing concerns about your actions, but that they didn’t even get a reply from you or anyone in your office. This is a clear example, in writing, of someone who was complaining; about what you were doing, what you are doing, and have either been ignored, or simply not responded to.

CN: Well Steve, I respond to every letter, every email, every phone call that comes into my office. People get a response. Now usually it takes about 3-4 weeks for a reply to be turned around -

SA: This was in early July…

CN: I’m more than happy to take that person’s feedback, actually get back to them and find out why they haven’t got a reply already. But we get thousands of emails, phone calls, letters, every month, and people all get a reply. Now -

SA: And none of the people complained about what you’re doing?

CN: Now, Steve, I did not even say that last time. I’d be happy to pull the transcript out. What I said to you last time was that I was reflecting that I’d been out on the weekend, in my electorate, at various activities, and across that period of that weekend, I’d had a very clear signal from people that they understood the tough decisions that were being made to get the state back on track, so let’s make sure that we’re very clear on what happened on that day when I came and talked to you. The bottom line is, look, we need to be grown up about this. What do we keep doing? Do we keep borrowing more money? The debt is $65b today. If we don’t sort this out, it will be $100b. These ratings agencies are totally independent of Government, but the most critical thing is, what they say in this is whether we can afford to build schools, and hospitals and put police on the beat, because the international investors, the bankers that lend us money, and keep this state going at the moment, look at these reports, and if these people say that the right things aren’t being done, the tough decisions aren’t being made, we get marked down, and we get hit with even higher interest rates. Right now, if NSW had the same level of debt as Queensland, we would be paying $100m extra a year in interest because they’ve got a better credit rating, so try that one. $100m.

SA: So Moody’s Ratings Agency has more influence on the government of Queensland than do the voters of Queensland?

CN: Steve, the voters of Queensland understand that we’re making tough decisions to get the state back on track. That’s why I mentioned the Ekka. The people who don’t like this are the people who are losing their jobs, and that’s understandable, but they’re also the union officials, that you have interviewed in recent days, who have their own vested interests. Look, we’re gonna make the right decisions for all Queenslanders. Lemme put it another way -

SA: We’re going to hear from more Queenslanders in just a moment –

CN: Let me put it another way. If we were to raise money to cover a $4b operating debt, and it will be more than that this financial year, that would mean that every man, woman and child in Queensland would have to cut off $1000. That’s $4000 this year for a family of four, just to try and balance the budget. That’s how bad it is. Now look – other politicians will come in and weasel words and won’t tell the truth. I’m telling it to you straight and to your listeners straight. We have to act. It’s not popular. It’s not easy, for those we’re hurting, and we’re sad about that, but it has to be done.

SA: That’s how bad it is. The Opposition tried to get a briefing, directly by the three audit commissioners, headed by Peter Costello, and they were rejected. Why is it, that the Opposition is not is allowed to speak to the independent auditors?



CN: Steve, frankly that’s totally spurious.

SA: They were offered a briefing by Tim Nicholls.

CN: They were offered a briefing on that, and at least one of the commissioners would’ve been there.

SA: They’ve put it in writing to me that their request was rejected, that they were offered a briefing with Tim Nicholls, but not with the independent auditors.

CN: They can have a briefing any time they like with Tim Nicholls and the commissioners, and I’ll just say, these are the people who got us in the mess. The Leader of the Opposition was a member of the Cabinet. Tim Mulherrin was a member of the Cabinet. Curtis Pitt was a member of the Cabinet. These people are deficit and debt deniers , I’m afraid. They seek to pretend that these reports aren’t true. How many bits of paper do they want? There’s the State Treasury, there’s the Independent Audit Commission Report, which is a public document, and now I’ve got this Moody’s report here. It was their own Mid-Year Review that they handed down before the election that said that the debt would be $85b, up from $65b now. I mean, these people need to hang their heads in shame. They’re the ones that created the problems that we’re now sorting out.

SA: Let’s take some calls. Wendy, from Murrumba Downs, you’re speaking with the Premier.

 

Wendy: I’ve got three questions that I’d like to ask... I believe that all members of Parliament who live outside the Brisbane electorate, the Brisbane City Council Area, get a fully funded apartment in the Annex.

CN: That’s true.

Wendy: And do they also get Living Away from Home Allowance?

CN: I’m not sure about that, actually.

Wendy: - and I’m assuming that you’ve now cut out all subsidised meals in the Dining Room, and subsidised Alcohol in the bar. It’s very easy, and you do it with such a look of glee on your face, to hit at the most vulnerable and the poorest in this state. You appointed 19 Assistant Ministers to your staff when you were elected – I know you don’t have Parliamentary Secretaries any more, but there were never 19 Parliamentary Secretaries – Do those 19 Assistant Ministers get staff, cars, and what is the extra salary that we are paying? I think you should start at the top. The 2.5% payrise that you got, when you look at how much it is on the salaries that you earn, could’ve helped keep some of these very poor charities going for quite a long time.

SA: Let me summarise Wendy’s question. Why don’t the cuts start at the top, rather than at the bottom?

CN: Well, they do Steve, and –

SA: So you’re cutting these allowances?

CN: No.No. No…Steve, just let me answer the question, please. Firstly, politicians had a 2.5% pay rise in August last year, but have had no pay rise while I’ve been the Premier. And any pay rise that politicians get will be commensurate with the core of the public service. In relation to accommodation and meals et cetera, that is set by the Committee of the Legislative Assembly, which is a bi-partisan committee. The Opposition and the Government are on it, and I make the point that politicians are in there when Parliament is sitting, usually til eleven o’clock or midnight, and that’s why they get accommodation because those that are outside the Brisbane local government area have a long hike home – blah blah blah – and others from places like Townsville. In terms of the overall costs of the Ministry, I’ll be tabling those expenses in the next week of the Parliament, and people will be happy to know that there’s a significant reduction on when Bligh, what the Bligh Government spent. So watch this space next week. It will be tabled. The full figures will be there, and it’s significantly less than Anna Bligh and the Labor Party spent, and indeed we have saved a LOT of money , since we became the government, through a whole range of initiatives, and I reject the suggestion that we’re hurting vulnerable people and deliberately cutting programmes to hurt vulnerable people. Indeed, we’re about putting more money back into the front line. I don’t want to spend money on the back of house; I wanna make sure the money is spent on front line services.

SA: Have you actually cut any MP’s allowances?

CN: No I haven’t, Steve, but I’ll just, again, those matters are dealt with by the Committee of the Legislative Assembly, which has Government members, and the Leader of the Opposition. And you know what, I could come on again like all politicians do, and I could sort of do the silver tongue thing and the weasel words, and I’m not gonna do that. Politicians have bills to pay, they have families, and politicians who run around saying they’re gonna cut this and cut that are being quite fraudulent about it. Politicians should work hard for their money, and they will on my team; I assure people of that.

SA: Michelle of Ashgrove, you have a question for the Premier.

Michelle: Mr Newman, to use the caller’s word previously, you have gleefully announced the closure of three caravan parks in Queensland because they have been costing $1m over the last, $1m a year. Two hundred and twenty families live in this. Now, your justification is that you want to sell these and supply more public housing for the 30,000 families that don’t have it. It doesn’t make an economic sense to… If you want to rehouse these people, most of them are again, the most vulnerable, they won’t be able to afford…they’re just one step above homeless, these people in caravan…

SA: So Michelle, your question is what? Where will they be housed?

Michelle: And if you wanna build, even at $300,000 a houses for these 220 families, that’s $66m dollars. It only works out to $5445/year for each of those families to be housed in stable, clean safe accommodation. How can you justify booting them?

CN: Well, Michelle, I’m glad you asked me the question, because it allows me to talk about the state of public housing in, and you reflected a figure. We’ve just had pretty much 20 years of Labor, and yet there are 30,000 families on the waiting list. So much for Labor caring about, er, people who are disadvantaged. I’ve got a Housing Minister, Dr Bruce Flegg, he’s been a successful businessman, I’m proud that he’s done that; I’m proud that he knows how to actually deal with this issue and solve the problem, and he will. What he’s doing, is he’s selling the caravan parks. He’s not closing them down, and I have to correct what Michelle said. There will be a moratorium on any change of use of those caravan parks for 18 months, and I’ve asked him to consider at least 2 years, so they’ll be put on the market, and new owners won’t be able to change their use. The new owner, by the way, might choose to keep them as caravan parks, but we don’t think the government should be in the business of owning caravan parks or specifically running caravan parks, nor do we even want to really be in the business of running public housing. We want to create public housing, create affordable housing, we want to create lots of it, and we’re gearing up to do that.

SA: Even though it’s an efficient way of housing people who are just one step away from homelessness?


CN: I don’t understand your point.

SA: If caravan parks…the caller’s point was that if people in caravan parks are one step away from being homeless, and this is an efficient way –

CN: Steve, Steve, I’ll have to say it again. We’re selling the caravan parks; they’re not being shut down. There’ll be at least a two year moratorium on their use, and it remains to be seen whether the actual caravan parks end up being closed. In the meantime, the money from those caravan parks will by “hypothecated” – in other words, will be spent directing on creating new, quality, public housing for Queenslanders in need, and again, Dr Flegg –

SA: Seems like a lot of uncertainty for one million dollars –

CN: Well, no, see, um, hang on. They’re worth a lot more than a million dollars. They’re worth several million dollars.

SA: All right.

CN: Well. What’s the uncertainty? The pledge is that they won’t be closed down for 2 years, the pledge is that the money will be spent on creating proper public housing, to deal with the absolute train wreck of a mess we’ve been left, because we do have a plan to create proper public housing for people. The other thing and I’ve pledged this already, that every single one of those two hundred or so people will be looked after, as an individual, and found alternative accommodation, should those caravan parks be shut down. I said all that a few weeks ago. I’m frankly happy to talk about this til the cows come home –

SA: We don’t have that much time –

CN: Buhbuhbuhbecbuhbedbugs but this really goes to the point. The Labor Party had 20 years to give us Public Housing Nirvana, and it’s a train wreck. Bruce Flegg, as Minister, has a plan to sort this out, and he cares passionately about every one of these people and he’s gonna provide quality accommodation for them. That’s what he’s gearing up to do, with the private sector in partnership.

SA: Michelle from The Gap, you have a question for the Premier?

Michelle: Mr Newman, you said that these cuts aren’t about ideology, but I think if you have a bit of a look at the list of people effected – the unemployed, women in the criminal justice system, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, tenants, people with disabilities, caravan park dwellers – and then on the other hand, look at the people where you have found some money to support: the gambling industry, the white picnic, graffiti removal, a High Court Challenge to the Mining Tax, moving your backbenchers onto committees which effectively gave them an $8000 pay rise. My question is, why are the cuts aimed at the least resourced in our community while you continue to support the most resourced in our community?
CN: Well, I’m sorry, but again, I don’t believe that’s the case. You could throw in other things, like Corporate Boxes going, the Literary Awards, y’know, I’m happy to talk about the Literary Awards going. Across the board, we’ve made all sorts of cuts that aren’t popular. They’ve been done wherever we think a programme has not generated value that it needs to, ultimately, with the tax payers. Another thing which we, er, I think we’ve sorted out now: we cut the Fanfare School Band programme, but we then found Corporate Sponsorship from the people that run the Convention Centre and we’re very happy about that, to keep the thing going, so y’know, that’s money that’s been saved. Across the board, the Government is making cuts that we need to make so that we can get the budget back in black. You made a comment about disabilities. Well, my position is very very clear. We want to spend a whole lot more assisting people with disabilities, and their families, and the only way we can do that, is to get the Government’s budget back in the black. In the 2014-15 Financial Year I’ve signalled, that at that stage, if we’ve achieved what we need to, we’ll be putting a lot more money – and a lot more money means hundreds of millions of dollars extra a year – as we gear up and then participate in the NDIS. So look, that’s where we’re coming from. There are plenty of examples of cuts that people can throw up. The bottom line, again, is the Government needs to do this, and we have a plan to get us back on track financially.

SA: Noel from Yeerongpilly, you have a question for the Premier?

Noel: How do you justify exaggerating by about $20b the level of debt by including Government owned corporations debt when the Government –owned corporations debt is just part of the general operational activity? The Government pays none of the interest on that debt and have no real responsibility for it, and the fact is that there’s no other government in the country, including the Federal Government that does this, and as the Mayor of a Council for many years, even Councils do not include the debt of their business enterprises in their general debt, so how do you justify it?
 

CN: Well, I hate to be disagreeing with callers, but I have to disagree. I was the Mayor of Brisbane for seven years, and the debt in things like Brisbane Water, Brisbane Transport, even though the standalone business units was incorporated in the overall debt picture, and the overall debt picture that we’re presenting is no different to the Government that just left. So, just again, let’s just look at it: Prior to the election, a thing called the Mid-Year Financial and Economic Review was released by Andrew Fraser and Anna Bligh. It said, the debt by the end of the 2012 Financial Year would be in excess of $62b, and it was; it ended up being $64b - $65b. It also said, so these are the Labor Party figures, that the debt would go to $85b by the 2014-2015 Financial Year. And guess what? It will, even though we’re making these cuts, it will, because they presented things in the most attractive and sunny-side-up way that they could. If we had no taken the action that we’ve been taking, the debt would end up being $100b. That’s what Mr Costello is saying. And that’s what Moody’s are sort-of saying in their report. It’s implied within the pages of this if you sort of look at all the information. So the numbers are the numbers are the numbers, and I urge all Queenslanders to have a good look at the Commission of Audit Report, look at Andrew Fraser’s Mid Year Review that was out some months ago, and the facts are exactly as they’ve been stated. That’s why these tough decisions have to be made. Look. The Government’s got a plan to sort this out. We’re very positive about being able to do that. We’re sorry about the people who are losing their jobs. We’re doing everything we can to keep that down to the minimum, sorry, the maximum number so that we don’t see anything like 20,000 going, but it’s pretty hard.

SA: Are you picking up the anger in the caller’s voices?

CN: Steve, I’m quite happy to acknowledge the callers you had this morning, but as I say, I spent…

SA: It’s pretty consistent.

CN: Yeah, quite consistent, but I spent seven hours at the Exhibition yesterday, and I can tell you that I had one person come up to me and express some negativity. For the rest of the 7 hours, I had people coming up, shaking my hand, saying “we know it’s tough, please keep doing what you’re doing, we admire the strength of you and the Government, and we know you’re doing the right thing for Queensland. Seven hours, Steve. I’ll, um, take heart from that because it has to be done.

SA: A couple of quick questions before you -

CN: I mean, no-one’s offering an alternative. No-one has said this morning, “we wanna pay an extra thousand dollars tax this year”. No-one’s said that. And it’s time that as Queenslanders, as Australians, we recognise that we have had a culture of, where we just say, we keep spending, and I’m afraid the music has stopped. It’s the morning after the party, and I’m afraid Campbell Newman and this Government, as a team, we have to deal with the hangover. We’re very positive about sorting it out. I know we’re gonna get through this, and by the end of this year, no, certainly, we’ve gotta get through the budget, but by the end of this year, I think we’ll have the finances tracking along very nicely, and one thing that’s really exciting is that I think we’re seeing some great signs in terms of our economy, great announcements by businesses and airlines about supporting Queensland, another one today coming from Etihad Airlines, we saw Qantas the other day into the Gold Coast, so I’m very positive about what’s happening in Queensland, going forward.

SA: Can I ask you, have you spoken to Anna Bligh since becoming Premier?

CN: Not since the night of the election, no.

SA: How do you feel about the news that she and her husband are leaving the state and moving to New South Wales to chase work.

CN: Well, that’s her call. We haven’t run them out of town; I know some people would like to. A lot of people I met at the Ekka yesterday would’ve liked to. But that’s all I’ve got to say on it.

SA: Final question. Does your Government have a communication problem? In other words, you’ve told me a great many things. You’ve heard the listeners call us, and I take your point about you have to deal with the real world of how you raise money to run the state, but it’s quite clear that the message is not getting through to the people who voted for you.

CN: Steve, it’s hard when you’re making tough decisions, but I sort of put it like this. At the end of the day, we’re in political office, and we know that it would be great to run around, cut ribbons and kiss babies and hand out money and just look good. That’s what we had in Queensland for 20 years. What you’re hearing this morning is fair dinkum, the truth. Nothing but the truth. The real reality we face, particularly at government, that has the guts to get in, deal with it, make it happen, sort it out, that’s what you’re hearing. At the end of the day, it’s not about us, about whether we get to be elected officials or whatever, it’s about whether we do the job to sort the state out. I just say to people, think about that. When was the last time you heard a politician, let alone a Premier actually telling you straight, tough stuff, unpalatable stuff, horrible stuff, but stuff that has to happen. I’m proud to do that, and I will keep doing that because that’s what we promised Queenslanders, that we’d sort out the mess, and that’s what we’re doing.

SA: Thanks for coming in once again.

Newmania: A Nightmare on George Street

It's hard to know if the tide is turning against King Campbell or not. There's no current polling to indicate what Newmanians are thinking, although a voluntary call-in segment this week on 612ABC indicates the King Campbell and his overstuffed court of ministers and members might not have as much support as they enjoyed back on March 24. Calls were categorised and counted. Of 57 calls, 24 were positive about King Campbell, and 33 were negative. You can - and should - listen to the calls here.

Earlier this week, the Courier Mail carried a story about King Campbell's bizarre notion that the anxiety around job security in the Public Service was the result of "leaks" from within the public service itself. Is King Campbell's regal crown too tight?

Is he completely unhinged?

The reason Newmania's 200,000+ public servants are scared witless is because their King has announced to all and sundry that Newmania is (a) broke, (b) borrowing funds to pay the public servants, and (c) re-evaluating the conditions under which public servants are employed and remunerated. We're not entirely sure how many roles have already gone, but it's around 6,000. How many will follow? We don't know because that's information King Campbell can never supply. Based on his earlier statement that we had 20,000 FTE (Full Time Equivalent) public servants in excess of what we could afford to pay, assume that King Campbell's axe will fall on another 14,000 or so Newmanian Public Servants.

Meanwhile, King Campbell told us that the good people of Ashgrove had expressed no negativity regarding the job losses; in fact, King Campbell let it be known that Ashgrovians were thanking him for making the tough decisions and cutting the waste. The only negative feedback King Campbell was aware of had been orchestrated by Union Fatcats, and was therefore unworthy of his attention.

It's fascinating that King Campbell finds that the voices of thousands of union members who rely on him for their paycheques are beneath is his notice, yet a similarly organised group who campaigns on a platform of Christian values drives King Campbell's policies.
King Campbell should compare the voice of the unions with the voice of the ACL, just to provide some perspective.

I don't doubt that a lot of Ashgrovians have faith in their King, and aren't directly effected by the public service job cuts. Those who aren't so happy might not bother to seek out the leader to express their displeasure, particularly if they've already signed a petition and attended a protest rally.

In any case, Ashgrove is close to the centre of things, and already, several thousand fewer people are working in the CBD. How many Ashgrovians work in businesses that exist to support the city workforce: cafes, parking garages, retail, medical, hairdressers...? It's Newmanian trickle-down suffering and a anxious CBD.

It's not only the CBD of Brisbane that's nervous; jobs are in danger in all of the major regional centres. 200,000+ public servants are nervous, regardless of location. They're unsure about their futures, and they're hating every moment of the present. QR employees are particularly anxious: 2,000 of them are about to join the ranks of the unemployed.

So skant is the information about future job cuts that the Police Union fears that King Campbell's commitment to increase police numbers by 1,100 will be undermined by cuts to the Academy's budget. How is it possible to train and employ over a thousand new officers when the training budget has been massacred?

It'll all be okay though. King Campbell is denying that his bloody solution to a fictitious crisis is unpopular yet necessary, and Prince Lawrence of Borg says he feels the pain of retrenched public sector workers because state politicians have had what amounts to a pay freeze.

On behalf of Newmania's public servants, I say to Prince Lawrence "Diddums".

This mess is not the fault of the public servants, though. It's Kevin Rudd's fault, according to Prince Larry. Of course a new LNP government would blame a Labor Federal Government. Note to everyone on the planet: blaming achieves nothing.

Can a government creating this much personal upheaval remain popular? For now, popularity is irrelevant, which probably explains the lack of polling. The LNP has such an overwhelming majority, they can do whatever they want.

We're watching it happen.

Brisbane: The Weather is Pretty Good

For some months now, Brisbane (or Newbane, Brisvegas, Brislantis, Gold Coast North, Australia’s Biggest Country Town) has been trying to sell the notion that it is Australia’s New World City. I’ve lived here for over ten years, which is longer than I lived in Sydney, and I don’t even know what that means.

Brisbane Marketing has one of the toughest jobs in the city. How do you market something that you can’t define? What does Brisbane have that makes it unique? What is the differential advantage? What attracts visitors to Brisbane in favour of other places? The great weather makes it a great place to live, but it needs more than that to bring in the tourists.For that matter, what images come to mind when prospective interstate and overseas visitors think about Brisbane (assuming they’ve heard of it)?

Promoting it as “Australia’s New World City” has a problem right out of the gate: no-one knows what it means, and few can be bothered finding out. Most of us who live here love Brisbane, although for many interstate transplants, it can take a while.

I find it challenging to explain why I love Brisbane – it’s where I live, and but it’s not my home. I have no emotional connection to the place, yet it’s far from unpleasant. It doesn’t have the natural beauty and Australian history that Sydney has, nor the sport-and-culture exhilaration of Melbourne. It doesn’t have a decent beach or an internationally recognisable landmark and it’s not really the gateway to anywhere. You don’t have to pass through Brisbane on your way to anywhere if you don’t want to.

It’s got lots of bits and pieces though: If you’re into Melbourne’s café culture or throbbing arts scene, just follow the trail of hipsters into the Valley or West End. If you like Sydney’s natural beauty and corporate sensibilities, we have a snaky brownish river that’s better known for it’s floods than for anything else, some really attention-grabbing cliffs at Kangaroo Point, some nice parks, a mangrove-ringed bay and an abundance of businesses where you can work for less money than you'd get in Sydney or Melbourne. Check out some of Australia's other major city tourist logos - was Brisbane's artist off sick the day that one was designed?

We have a CBD: it’s not huge or glamorous, but if you’re standing in Queen Street Mall and you look around you, you’ll see a mall in a CBD. At least it's honest. Brisbane’s “premiere shopping precinct” is a slightly swankier version of a suburban Westfield. The dining scene is picking up, but it’s still patchy, overpriced and too many restaurants close too early, and entertainment venues seem to be closing at an alarming rate.

On the upside, Brisbane punches above her weight when it comes to sporting contests and bad driving.

And Brisbane does have really nice weather.

So where does this leave us?

As much as I hate to admit this, Brisbane has no appeal for tourists and holiday-makers. None. If you have business in Brisbane, if you’re attending a course or a symposium or an event of some kind, or if you have family and friends here to visit, you’ll come to Brisbane, do what you have to do, enjoy the weather, and perhaps nose around a bit. If you don’t have to come to Brisbane for a reason, Brisbane isn’t going to offer enough to lure you here.

We need to have something else, something more, something unique.

Or maybe not. Perhaps the one differential advantage we have is in not having one. Sometimes there is virtue in being who you are – we’re a working city with a suburban sprawl and generally nice weather.

(Note: the last two mockups are all my own work. I actually like the idea of Brisbane: Surprise! as a marketing campaign, but I'm claiming it right here and now as mine, and Brisbane Marketing is invited to pay me huge amounts of money for the rights.)

Newmania: The Sad State

90 Days – but Who’s Counting?

Today marks ninety days of the Great State of Newmania, formerly known as Queensland, but as Queens have been relegated to the state of less tolerable sub-humans, the name had to be changed to best reflect the new state of affairs. The picture is emerging of a new way to live.


Fortunately, Premier Newman is a former army engineer who loves a plan, and he has one. Unfortunately, the mysterious Forces of Darkness who supported his ascent are exercising their power to drive their bizarre Bible Belt agenda. Strangely, this Bible Belt agenda isn’t including anywhere in the Pledge Premier Newman made to The People when he became Ruler.

Here’s the pledge:

In the first 100 days we will begin delivering on the five pledges we made: to grow a four pillar economy, lower the cost of living by cutting waste, deliver better infrastructure and better planning, revitalise frontline services for families and restore accountability in Government.

Even in Newmania, where life should be predictable and conform to the Pledge, politics can get confusing. Things happen in a tediously non-linear way. We could work through the 100 Day Can Do Plan item by item, and tick off those that have been achieved – but that wouldn’t be fair to Mr Newman, who has achieved so many things that aren’t in the plan! Besides. The Courier Mail is keeping track of the 100 Day Plan…or they were. I have asked the Courier Mail for a link to their most current update, but have had no response. Draw your own conclusions.



Still, the Bible Belt agenda isn’t a complete surprise to those of us who’ve been paying attention, but the speed and ruthless way it’s being applied has caught many Newmanians off guard.



Far more interesting is his promise to govern with Dignity, Grace and Humility.
Where is the dignity in banishing your opposition from the building? Where is the grace in ripping rights from your constituents to appease a minority lobby group? Where’s the humility in being to busy and important to attend a Prime Ministerial Summit in your home town? Where’s the dignity in lying to journalists about his plans to amend surrogacy laws? Where’s the grace in his treatment of his own staff?

Premier Newman’s traditional honeymoon period is over, just 90 days into his first term. Even those people who voted for him acknowledged that there would be some tough decisions, but he’s crossed so many lines, he probably feels like he’s dancing on railway tracks. After last night’s inexcusable carry-on in Parliament, in which the changes to Civil Partnerships and Surrogacy legislation were debated, the outpouring of disgust on Twitter was crushing.

Here in the luminous land of Newmania, life is changing faster than we could have predicted 90 days ago. Premier Newman was right to cancel production of number plates that said “The Smart State.” Perhaps he should have changed them to “The Sad State”.

The Blackest of Abysmal Hyperbole

If you work for the Queensland Public Service, you’re lucky to be getting a pay cheque, and you know it, because the Premier has told you that. According to the Brisbane Times yesterday, Premier Newman

"…argued the state employed 20,000 more public servants than it could afford, following Friday’s report by the Peter Costello-led financial commission of audit."

Premier Newman’s slash and burn solution to the Labor Government’s economic legacy is to cut – cut – cut. I’ve lost track of the number of projects and programmes that have been seen funding cut or cancelled altogether. Underlying all of that has been the constant threat that public service jobs were in danger.

Peter Costello’s interim report on Queensland’s economic position was released last week, giving the government more certainty of their financial position. According to the report, the Queensland Government is employing 20,000 more public servants that it can afford to pay: not 20,000 public servants more than Queensland needs, just 20,000 more than we can afford. As of March 2012, Queensland had a little over 200,000 public servants. Apparently we can’t afford about 10% of them.

At this stage, the Premier says he is trying to protect those jobs, and warns public servants and their unions not to ask for pay rises.

So what’s the point? Why would the Premier be making big nasty noises with big nasty numbers, and scaring every single public servant in Queensland unless he’s trying to soften the ground in front of an even nastier announcement?

In fact, we didn’t have to wait for the next scary announcement.

"The Premier said the former government was paying for 20,000 full-time-equivalent public servants with debt and referred to the state as heading towards “the blackest of all black abysses” in regard to its financial position."

Black black black black blackity black.

On Monday, when Fairfax announced that it was terminating 1,900 employees, there was a lot of talk, possibly fuelled by the fact that the people whose jobs were threatened are the same people who bring us the news. In any case, 1,900 is a big number, and a genuine blow to the entire industry. I wouldn’t want to be studying journalism right now; it’s a shrinking market.

Twenty thousand is more than ten times bigger, but when it comes to jobs, it’s a concept many of us can’t comprehend. Twenty thousand is the entire population of Armidale, in New South Wales. Can you imagine an entire town – including kids, grandparents, part-time workers, and both staff and students at the University of New England – being told their jobs are under threat because we can’t afford to pay them?

So what are these jobs?

I doubt that it’s been decided, but we do know that the Queensland Public Service encompasses over 200,000 workers in a wide array of roles. The average wage for a Queensland Public Servant is around over $80,000. Multiply that across 20,000 full-time equivalent roles, and Mr Newman is talking about Queensland having to borrow $1.6 billion to meet its payroll for that 20,000 workers that he says we can’t afford.

But can we afford to do without those roles? The clichéd picture of a public servant is the desk-bound pencil pusher in a beige cardigan. The Queensland Public Service consists of jobs in Health, Education, Police, Justice, Economic Development, Environment, Museums and Galleries, Transport, Roads, and more, as well as the bureaucrats you’ve probably pictured. Details of the QPS Workforce are here. These people provide necessary services that we expect from our state government, and while it’s usually possible to find efficiencies and savings that allow an organisation to trim the headcount, there’s also a limit.

Cut past that point, and frontline service levels fall. For now, we might be talking about a few less back office bean counters that take longer to prepare reports for their middle-management bureaucrat bosses, but at some point, it starts to hurt. It starts to matter. I'd even argue that it's not a bad thing to have a little depth on the bench, a little wiggle room in the back office. It gives an organisation flexibility, which is what the Queensland Government needs most right now.

Premier Newman’s dire predictions that Queensland is sinking towards the inky depths of despair is undoubtedly alarmist, but what is his worst case scenario? Is it larger class sizes, longer hospital waiting lists, fewer police, dangerous roads? Is it rising unemployment (and $1.6b dollars less circulating through and stimulating  the Queensland economy)? Or is it simply a wages bill we still can’t afford to pay?

Frankly, the most acceptable of those options is the wages bill we can’t afford. Premier Newman must keep the state functioning, growing, while we work our way back out of debt. Protect those jobs at all costs. Don’t pay off the state debt to prove that you can, while the careers of Queensland public servants pile up in your blackest of black abysses.