14000 jobs gone in QLD,wow!

[Luc]

Just reading the ABC report on this;14000 jobs,$800.000.000 to pay them all out, unions upset, the rightwing is nodding it's head crying crocodile tears and the left is spluttering, blah blah blah.

The thing that gets me is that if jobs went in the private sector, lets say 5000 jobs in the motor industry just imagine the outcry and the millions that would be thrown at that sector.

Mining, the big end of town decides to do away with human beings as drivers of earthmoving equipent and huge dump trucks etc and also decide that importing lots of workers from overseas who work at cheaper rates and whose wages will go straight back overseas.

Agriculture and agrarian socialism lobby has always had a strong political voice; imagine if they really did sell all the farms to overseas corporations+quasi governmental agencies(Cubby Station anyone, or Chinco investing here)

Anyway, you get the picture, there would be and there is very vocal opposition and or argument calling for limits and or assistance of various measures to apply to all the above scenarios and yet here you have 14000 jobs(even if you say very quickly it's a ginormous number) down the gurgler by the swipe of a reformer's pen.

The houses, the food, the luxuries, the cars, the services, the clothes, the entertainment, the whitegoods, the taxes,the holidays, the renovations, the list is endless for what these people will no longer possibly need or spend in our community.

Can you take that many incomes out of an economy all at once and not suffer consequences both financially and socially?

Yes the public service is everyone's punching bag but when you get down to the blunt end of this your looking at families who may no longer have a breadwinner, self -employed contractors(like myself) who have allied themselves too tightly to the government teat and who have now had the chair pulled from under them, I feel a certain empathy with them.

All up it's an incredible loss of income for Queenslanders across the state and more than likely an incredible loss of services for many communities and individuals across the state.

It may well work out in the end but history suggests it wont.

I hope no SNA'ers are directly affected by this measure.

[firefly0071]

Put your hands up if you voted LNP in QLD!

[mondie]

4,000 alone lost from Healthcare. I have no idea if Qld has a good health system and whether it has any chance of maintaining expected standards with such a big loss. Where did all the proceeds from the coal mining boom that the state has enjoyed go?

[Nada]

Queensland Health delivers reasonable to world class service for free to patients.

Its grossly underfunded.

Liberal seem to want to run it down and boost the private sector.

There are significant profits to be made in the private health industry.

[comfortablynumb]

4,000 alone lost from Healthcare. I have no idea if Qld has a good health system and whether it has any chance of maintaining expected standards with such a big loss. Where did all the proceeds from the coal mining boom that the state has enjoyed go?

The previous Labor State Govt. blew the lot and left the state $65 billion in debt. Things were so bad the previous govt. were borrowing money to pay the public service wages.

Qld health care system is pretty much the same as any other state in Australia.....pretty woeful.

Edited September 12, 2012 by comfortablynumb

[Telecine]

The previous Labor State Govt. blew the lot and left the state $65 billion in debt. Things were so bad the previous govt. were borrowing money to pay the public service wages.

Qld health care system is pretty much the same as any other state in Australia.....pretty woeful.

Not exactly correct. You seem to have forgotten the GFC and the stimulus packages that governments world-wide have entered into and the little matter of the worst natural disasters in 100 years (flood and cyclone) that required significant budget to rebuild the state. In the circumstances we are doing pretty well.

[Guest Willow]

Put your hands up if you voted LNP in QLD!

That would be me , a good honest wage for services rendered I say , all these Mickey Mouse positions the previous government invented were a joke.

We are not Greece.

[Two Flies]

A couple of cyclones that flattened the top end, and 1 in 100 year flood.

The previous Labor State Govt. blew the lot and left the state $65 billion in debt. Things were so bad the previous govt. were borrowing money to pay the public service wages.

Qld health care system is pretty much the same as any other state in Australia.....pretty woeful.

Not exactly correct. You seem to have forgotten the GFC and the stimulus packages that governments world-wide have entered into and the little matter of the worst natural disasters in 100 years (flood and cyclone) that required significant budget to rebuild the state. In the circumstances we are doing pretty well.

double post

Edited September 12, 2012 by MC240

[Two Flies]

Not exactly correct. You seem to have forgotten the GFC and the stimulus packages that governments world-wide have entered into and the little matter of the worst natural disasters in 100 years (flood and cyclone) that required significant budget to rebuild the state. In the circumstances we are doing pretty well.

Anna Bligh done a 1st class job in the aftermath floods and cyclones and was rewarded with the boot.

[Telecine]

That would be me , a good honest wage for services rendered I say , all these Mickey Mouse positions the previous government invented were a joke.

We are not Greece.

There doesn't seem to be much evidence of the previous government inventing positions. In the relevant period under review by the Costello Audit of the State's finances, since 2000, the Public Sector has grown by 18%. During the same period, the population has grown by more than 22%. The current government is reducing the number of Public Sector employees to Pre-2000 levels. During the same period, the number of citizens over 65 has increased by more than 40%.

In addition, whole new industries are being established around CSG and LNG. The revenues from these new industries, expected to amount to billions of dollars per year, have yet to come online. These revenues are not part of the current forward estimates and will massively affect the budget bottom line when they do come online over the next 18 to 24 months.

With forecast growth of 4%, second only to WA and billions of dollars of revenue per year about to come online, we certainly aren't Greece.

On closer examination of the facts, the cuts appear to be ideologically based.

Edited September 12, 2012 by Telecine

[hybridfiat]

I think that before sounding off about jobs lost and services cut we find out WHICH jobs are going and whether they were needed in the first place. I worked in the public sector health system here in WA during the Labor years and saw some pretty weird PS positions created.

When what we really needed was more nurses and Drs on the 'shop floor'.

Administration was becoming very large and wasteful.

Nothing like the waste in the UK under Blair and Brown but still of concern.

[Guest Willow]

Anna Bligh done a 1st class job in the aftermath floods and cyclones and was rewarded with the boot.

MC , she presided over an extremely dodgy government , we the people are to be congratulated for the clean-up efforts after the floods.

As far as the cyclones go , well , out of sight , out of mind. The cyclone Larry aftermath was a disgrace.

[davidsss]

Willow, you are correct, Queensland is not Greece, who'd have thought?

But lets have a look at the numbers:

In Greece the debt to GDP ration was 143% in 2010

In Queensland the debt to GDP ration is 20%

Not even remotely comparable.

DS

[THOMO]

A couple of cyclones that flattened the top end, and 1 in 100 year flood.

double post

Yes but a responsible government would have had cash reserves to pay for for such events.Queensland is after all prone to such things.

Instead they borrowed a heap of money hoping that it would get them re-elected.Which it did for a while.

It needed to stop and good on the new government for accepting their responsibility to sort out such s mess.

Of course it would have been better if all government workers accepted a pay cut and much fewer jobs had to go.Perhaps there should have been a vote on such a solution.

Paradise?Fools paradise more likely.

[lusk]

$65 billion in the hole and cutting jobs now, that's closing the barn door after the horse has bolted.

The interest alone on 65 billion would cover 14,000 jobs.

[Telecine]

$65 billion in the hole and cutting jobs now, that's closing the barn door after the horse has bolted.

The interest alone on 65 billion would cover 14,000 jobs.

Public debt isn't a problem if you have assets and revenue. QLD has both in spades with massive new revenues about to come online.

Net debt is what you need to worry about. The QLD net debt position is quite good. Costello of course chose not to report this which is a departure from accepted standards. It has made for great press and propaganda though.

Edited September 12, 2012 by Telecine

[THOMO]

Willow, you are correct, Queensland is not Greece, who'd have thought?

But lets have a look at the numbers:

In Greece the debt to GDP ration was 143% in 2010

In Queensland the debt to GDP ration is 20%

Not even remotely comparable.

DS

That is failing to consider the National debt to GDP ratio share which would be added to the Queensland debt on a per capita basis.That would make it far closer the the Greek national figure.

[Guest Willow]

There doesn't seem to be much evidence of the previous government inventing positions. In the relevant period under review by the Costello Audit of the State's finances, since 2000, the Public Sector has grown by 18%. During the same period, the population has grown by more than 22%. The current government is reducing the number of Public Sector employees to Pre-2000 levels. During the same period, the number of citizens over 65 has increased by more than 40%.

In addition, whole new industries are being established around CSG and LNG. The revenues from these new industries, expected to amount to billions of dollars per year, have yet to come online. These revenues are not part of the current forward estimates and will massively affect the budget bottom line when the do come online over the next 18 to 24 months.

With forecast growth of 4%, second only to WA and billions of dollars of revenue per year about to come online, we certainly aren't Greece.

On closer examination of the facts, the cuts appear to be ideologically based.

I take this onboard , Tele , however my mail tells me a high percentage of the first wave of sackings were clip-board carriers and general " floaters ".

Excessive waste in some of these departments tends to feed on itself like a cancer.

[LogicprObe]

Skills shortage!

They're still talking about it!

NSW is cutting plenty too.

[Telecine]

That is failing to consider the National debt to GDP ratio share which would be added to the Queensland debt on a per capita basis.That would make it far closer the the Greek national figure.

You must be joking. Australia has one of the lowest levels of public debt in the developed world. It is degrees of great here, not degrees of bad.

Edited September 12, 2012 by Telecine

[Guest Willow]

Willow, you are correct, Queensland is not Greece, who'd have thought?

But lets have a look at the numbers:

In Greece the debt to GDP ration was 143% in 2010

In Queensland the debt to GDP ration is 20%

Not even remotely comparable.

DS

I was referring to the mindset

[Telecine]

I take this onboard , Tele , however my mail tells me a high percentage of the first wave of sackings were clip-board carriers and general " floaters ".

Excessive waste in some of these departments tends to feed on itself like a cancer.

Not correct. The targets are set like a quota and applied across all types of functions. Admittedly, a higher percentage are corporate services but in reality, they are no less essential than so called frontline delivery. Somebody has to do the work.

[THOMO]

You must be joking. Australia has one of the lowest levels of public debt in the developed world. In is degrees of great here, not degrees of bad.

Yes but it is getting worse by the day and we have no major multinational companies to provide tax income to service such a debt [just like Greece].

We also have massive state government and private debt that has to be serviced.The thirteenth highest external debt in the world and that makes it very scary per capita.About the same per capita as the USA-95% compared to 100% GDP to debt ratio .Net figures are much worse.If you look at those figures we look very much a Banana Republic.As individuals we have been living way beyond our means for way too long.

[Guest Willow]

Not correct. The targets are set like a quota and applied across all types of functions. Admittedly, a higher percentage are corporate services but in reality, they are no less essential than so called frontline delivery. Somebody has to do the work.

We will have to agree to disagree I think , Tele.

For the last dozen or so years we have had a union minority running Qld via the Labor Party , this minority rule and the cushy jobs that went with that are now going and they are angry about it.

So now we have the majority who are just as angry at the mess the minority has left Queensland in.

[Full Range]

The health sector will be cut by approx 4000 positions in QLD according to the news I just heard on the ABC

However I am not sure of the breakdown

The QLD Labor gov was running a popular opinion type of management for many many years

Sometimes they would announce something but would not commit or follow up unles it was a popular

They also spent many millions in the new payroll system for the health dept that simply did not work

It's cost many millions to just try to fix it and the problem still persists almost 3 years later

It woud have been prudent to revert to the previous system until it was fixed or just look for another software system that worked

The previous government will not admit any fault of anything they got wrong but will eagerly lay blame on everything the incoming government has done

And the unions are up in arms about the situation because the more members they have the more revenue they collect

I know this may sound blunt but it's true they will think of self preservation first

I have made mention in the past that I believe that unions in general are good but should not involve themselves in politics

I have no affiliation with either party as I am a swinging voter