Anna Bligh seem to be struggling to hold back the huge smile she reserves for her own point scoring sorties within the parliament on junior opposition members who are never give right of return of fire by the speaker, when she delivered that first press conference announcing that she would be in control of the flood and that she would assemble a team to deal with it and that she would have a press conference every two hours to keep people informed, she was almost shaking with glee at the thought of free publicity of her being in control of Queensland and getting a big one up in opinion polls by over estimating almost every detail of the catastrophic flood surge in the Brisbane and Bremmer River systems and then being the political hero when it fails to reach the expected levels and the public are relieved enough to forget how badly they have been treated by her and her government for over a decade.
Bligh and her entourage of head nodding stooges stand there every two hours giving their press release and re iterating the last two hours of already televised news, the head nodding being a vital part of the delivery and even comrade number 1 the Prime Minister has head nodded behind her to emphasise that she is fixing the problem and indeed is in control of the Flood and must therefore be re-elected.
Bligh even has lame duck NSW Premier the "septic Tank" Kristina Kenealy up in a chopper trying to score some political points with the electorate in that state in a copybook rerun about how if the floods come further into NSW she, like Bligh, will control the issue and save the people.
Yes I'm skeptical of Bligh's motives with good reason too, when the initial flooding in Queensland started to get quite severe particularly in northern Queensland (where her vote base is slim) where was she? Well she was away with her family to see the fireworks on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, to be fair she did a rocket trip back to show some face but she was very much unconcerned by the plight of all the national party voters across the country areas of Queensland in my opinion.
Until the destruction in Toowoomba and the subsequent "wall of water", which appears to have come from severe under maintenance around the dam up there and breaching of diversion banks which kept water from the town centre, came over the hill and flowed down the two main water courses with volumes in multiples of the capacity of those water courses destroying homes, businesses and lives and heading toward the heartland of Labor voting South East Queensland which presented a unique opportunity for unprecedented publicity , personal heroism and votes.
While the facts are devastating for everyone who has copped some damage or personal loss and even more for those who have perished and their families, the Bligh bandwagon and the TV news coverage rolls on submersing us in unprecedented Bligh mania, even cutting off mid sentence other guests because she has begun to speak, the horror of what has happened, what efforts are being put into action and how ordinary Australians are working to help one another pales into insignificance when Bligh begins to parrot the news, . . .again.
Unfortunately we are in for more tomorrow as the news coverage of this one in a hundred year event (which last happened only 36 years ago) is now part of Bligh and Labor's political campaign machine.
Will this get us another term of asset sales, mismanaged budgets and continue the game of infrastructure catch up while developers plunder our green spaces? why yes, yes it will, unless the questions that need to be asked are , and only accepting the real answers and not spin from the media happens, then we'll be in real trouble.
18 comments:
I had to turn the TV off yesterday after the dramatic way bligh was bringing the press conferences every two hours and in between the TV (9) was replaying her again and again. You're right it was grandstanding and no doubt there will be suckers who will beiieve that she is doing a good job.
I have a relative in the BOM and they said all their latest information had to go direct to bligh instead of the normal news channels so that she could deliver the lastest heights before the news. It's all smoke and mirrors to try to get elected again.
While Bligh and the TV news have set in motion what can only be described as a wholsale fear campaign over the South East Corner of the state to dramatise even more than reality what was about to happen, what exactly do you think the boys of the thin blue line were doing while people were in need of help navigating to their destinations with some streets flooded?
On Logan road the donut eaters had a couple of speed camera's in opperation to get those they'd had a good part in panicing, rushing around to save possesions and move away from areas that in reality never even saw water let alone flooding, and the flashing of the speed cameras was bringing in as much gold as Bligh was getting from her TV exploits.
Also observed was a guy with a bycycle loaded with clothes, pillows and blankets being booked for not having a helmet, aparently it's a crime to use the bike without one even if you're not actually riding it, great work for the hero's of the flood, probably all on overtime at double pay as well.
While Bligh and our TV media have focussed on our own plight, and rightly so to a point, accross the world nature has been at work almost totally ignored by the TV media, and i believe totally ignored by the machine gearing up Bligh's profile for an election before mid year most likely.
In Brazil over 430 lives have already been lost in flooding and land slides (mud slides) near the centre of Rio de Janeiro.
Your suffering is in our thoughts, and your loss is in our prayers, well those of us who know about this tragedy.
Nature can be cruell but nowhere near as cruell as a politician with an opportunity to get their mug on the telly, it's just disgusting.
Anyone who votes for either
side of politics on the
basis of some contrived
media groomed emotional
outpouring like we have
seen from Anna Bligh in
the past few days, with-
out taking into account
the government`s track
record, is a complete
and utter fool and you
can rest assured that
the Courier Mail and
Channel 9, as well as
all the other friends
of the Labor Party, will
be milking Anna Bligh`s
television tears for all
they are worth as a way
of attempting to make
everyone in Queensland
forget about the pickle
the place was in before
there was even a mention
of any floods.
Looks like we pale into insignificance also compared to what is going on in Shri Lunka, where the rains have flooded and the death toll already doubles ours and almost a million people have had to flee flooded homes for higher ground.
It was gratuitous electioneering, and it was disgusting. Shame Bligh Shame.
People are so naive when it comes to politics. They don't seem to realize that flood crisis management is something that is planned many years in advance. Being an expert on propaganda, Bligh was just playing the part of a White House style spokesperson, parroting the facts as they came to hand from her army of subordinates and consultants. After the event she reverted immediately to form by proposing a $15 million enquiry into the disaster. This will involve a bunch of "experts" who will sit around the table drinking cups of tea and pondering the reasons "why". At the end another glossy govt. publication will be produced, which will sit on shelves gathering dust.
Watch out for the return of Capt Bligh. She has scored major points by way of this disaster. It was sad not to see John Paul Langbroek with a SHOVEL. Points to Bligh to date
Being out there with my gear, assisting the clean up volunteers was painful and I could only take 3 days which cost me personally about $600 just in fuel and two tyres, about another $700.
The organisation of hand labor around the machines was woeful and down right dangerous with machines loading trucks and council "coordinators" having people hand loading from the other side at the same time, even climbing up on the trucks.
Workplace health and safety , fire ant and asbestos handling procedures were nowhere to be seen and trying to keep people away from moving machines, especially from behind them was a nightmare and machines were vandalised after dark.
What i found disturbing was the number of volunteers helping themselves to peoples things, setting them aside and then taking them to their cars, very odd.
the amount of work the volunteers have done has saved the council, State Government and in particular the insurance companies many millions of dollars and will speed up the rebuilding process considerably.
The funny thing was that where I was we never saw television cameras, no reporters, nothing. All we saw was very timid looking police breaking into homes where no one had come to unlock them hoping not to find anything.
I also saw some groups of people from the opposition including the leaders both state and federal digging and carting out of those homes with no fanfare what so ever, and no political point scoring.
What really upsets me is that like many others I gave financially and spent 2 days working in the dirty, stinking mud only to find that now we will have to face a levy.
I have no problem helping fellow Aussies but why does the government always find some way to impose further hardship?
This disaster is impacting on all of us, the cost of living is already soaring and for some unknown reason the petrol prices have gone through the roof.
What is the Federal Government doing with the Contingency Fund?
Also when the majority of Australians are saying NO to the levy, why is Ms Gillard persisting and no dragging the independants in to support her? Time for her and her party to go.
As for the Qld Premier setting conditions on the money donated by the people - how disgusting! The money was donated to help the survivors of the floods without any strings attached. No money should be skimmed off the top for so called admin fees either - and that should apply to charities involved as well. [Isn't this just like looting?]
So now we're hearing that many claims seem to have been rejected from the appeal money given for Cyclone Larry, yes that far back and it seems that the sum left over is quite hefty. Although the Government 9well Bligh really) has claimed that it's due to disputes between builders and owners and that it has accrued substantial interest , they have been forced to now give the interest to the current appeal. If the government's form is as usual I'd say they will carefully dole out proceeds of the appeal fund to areas where they get votes, in other words it will be heavily weighted to South East Queensland.
After seeing how the money was used from public donations in past disasters, I'm not so sure I'll ever donate to anything controlled by the government again.
Not that I have anything against sports but by gad, why are they more concerned about getting stadiums and walkways reconstructed while people are homeless?
Surely the priorities are to get people back into their homes, develop a better disaster management plan and stabilise electricity and water supplies as well as fixing the roads.
From Federal to Local Gov they fail miserably and we are not the only ones observing this.
Cully
Just found your web site and I'm pleased to see I'm not the only one who saw through the Anna Blight Academy Award performance during the floods.Her constant hogging of the spotlight in front of the TV cameras was sickening to watch with her surrounded by a bevy of voiceless uniformed Goons then the Oscar winning award was reached when the tears flowed in front of the cameras! With the Controlled media doing a sudden about face in crowning the New Anna Blight as a "Born again Leader"
Yesterday I nearly fell off my chair as I watched Julia Gillard pull a Copy Cat performance on day one of the Federal Parliament!No doubt the "Spin Doctors"had a field day with the tear jerking tactic!Talk about Transparent Government?
I think they're called Crocodile tears.
A few tears do not wash away the attrocities during their leadership [tongue in cheek]. Actually there were no tears - just the 'almost' tears. Bit like Meg Ryan faking an orgasm in one of her movies.
Welcome Aboard Cully,
I'm of the opinion, and its the age old one , that every time you go to an election you end up with a stinking politician.
Locally we have some real doozzers, . .
Cully Says if you want to discover the "Truth" and have the "Hidden Agenda" explained,that is the one all of our Federal Political Leaders have followed and ongoing to today! Totally unravelling this once great Nation read a book written by Graham Strachan entitled "Globalisation the Demise of the Australian Nation-2001 edition"not available in Libraries or Book Stores contact Graham PO.Box 131 Jimboomba 4280.Makes Wikileaks look like a nursery Rhyme!!!!
First we saw Bligh get all 'choked' up, the Gillard, now Rickuss - all on Camera.
Pity that this emotion doesn't spur them on to action. They have not suffered like the real flood victims and in comparison to the thousands of volunteers our Politicians fall very short.
Words will not fix what is broken and instead of campaigning they should get down to the business of reconstructing this year - not in 10 years time.
Bligh and her gang should also stop encouraging high density development in flood areas.
Damn
Thats all I can say, I can't believe you were so spot on about this, reading the front page of the Sunday paper left me feeling like vomiting, are the Labor sheep really that gullible?
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