Back up, . . . to Edwards Bridge.

After my previous post which indirectly pointed a finger at Logan council for not wanting to spend money on much needed infrastructure below the old ( pre amalgamation ) boundary, rather they spend it wastefully on cosmetic improvements like entrance statements and other such rubbish when pot holes that can break suspension and bridges fall into such a state of disrepair that they have to put a load limit on them.

So, Edwards Bridge, falls into this category, it is in a desperate condition and I have done a little research on it's current state and it's scary.

Edwards bridge is at Greenbank, Queensland on Old Goodna Road, near Ison Road intersection, and spans a creek which can during rain carry considerable water but is quite low during dry spells.

The Bridge, if I recall correctly from Beaudesert Shire Council discussions was constructed in about 1975 (or thereabouts ) to replace a single lane one which may have been (partially) washed away.

Its construction was typical of its day, timber, what amounts to big telegraph poles were used for the abutments, to hold the span (in the middle of the creek) and for the platform. The majority of those poles are still there.

In the late 80's the platform was upgraded, off came the pole platform and bitumen topping and after a layer of metal sheeting (it resembles shed siding) as a permanent formwork concrete was poured and again a bitumen topping applied.

As of right now the bridge supports are stuffed, simple, it needs replaced right now, YESTERDAY !!!

When trucks traverse that bridge, it is a scary sight from below, you wouldn't remain under there for long as it look like splitting posts and bearers are ready to give up at any moment.

This bridge came up for discussion after heavy rains in around 1996 when some bridges constructed in a similar fashion were washed away, and it was put into a list for further investigation due to its condition being bad for its age.

Later, during the last term of the Beaudesert Shire Council, a survey of all the wooden bridges revealed that Edwards Bridge needed urgent replacement. And then we were amalgamated with Logan by force, and Logan doesn't want to spend the money.

This bridge is on a main thoroughfare, and although it's not heavily used in comparison to nearby Teviot Road, peak hours see it full and it's the shortest way to and from either end, by far.

The question I put to Council is, does someone have to get hurt, seriously hurt before you guys accept that you have to spend money below the old Logan Boundary?

Come on Logan, before there is disaster, get off your butt and do something.

Barnaby Joyce : what's the Wright angle ?

When the preselected candidate for the Federal seat of Wright was found to have kept details of a case to answer from QCAT ( Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal ) of the department of Justice and the Attorney Generals office, relating to a matter where almost $2 million in proceeds from the sale of an ill man's property over whom she had power of attorney has been withdrawn from an account without satisfying the Adult Guardian that it was for the benefit of the man, caused the preselected candidate to be dis endorsed by the LNP and open the way for a new contest for what many believe is a safe seat for whom ever gains the nod to contest the election for the LNP.

Barnaby Joyce seemed to be a supporter of the initial candidate, and has been assisting her by appearing at events such as her recent wedding, and her campaign launch.

Barnaby Joyce a Queensland Senator, is currently the leader of the Nationals in the Senate and currently the shadow minister for Regional development, Infrastructure and water.

What is interesting is his push for his own chief of Staff to take over the seat of wright, and why?

We understand that a drover's dog would romp in for the LNP in that seat and it is considered a conduit seat to a career in Federal politics, and also that the new preselected candidate has run before and is quite experienced in both business and in political processes, that is not in question.

The question is why? what is it about Wright that is so interesting to Mr Joyce, why was he so supportive of the previous candidate, and why does it now seem he has put up his own candidate for preselection.

I suppose only Mr Joyce could answer, but even if he does, would we be able to understand?

The Australia Card , . . . by stealth.

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On one of the darkest days Labor has ever seen, when a serving Australian Prime Minister was politically executed by his deputy and her power base of Faction leaders and Trade Union power brokers within one night of number crunching and so seamless was the deed that the now ex PM declared the position of Labor Party Leader vacant to the caucus and did not even put his hand up as a potential candidate leaving Gillard as the only nominee and thusly elected leader of the Parliamentary Labor Party and therefore also the new Prime Minister, further business went almost unnoticed later that evening in the Senate.

LABOR'S controversial electronic healthcare identifier legislation passed in the Senate the same day as Julia Gillard did the devastatingly disloyal deed to her Party Leader, however without any of the media hysteria and against the wishes of the people in terms of it's close relationship with the Australia Card which was given a resounding no by the community.

Two bills -- Healthcare Identifiers Bill 2010 and Healthcare Identifiers (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2010 -- were passed with government amendments and after several delays.

Medicare will be equipped to start issuing a unique, 16-digit healthcare identifier to every Australian from July 1. Doctors, hospitals, healthcare organisations and allied health providers will receive similar identifiers.

So what does this mean?

It means that the government will effectively own your medical information as it will all be recorded against your number and be on their system, out on the public domain of the Internet for ease of access by the relevant people. Not You.

Those in government who are pushing it say it is needed so that the waiting lists in our hospitals will be shortened because doctors will have all our information at hand and won't be wasting time looking for it, Hello! sorry but that is all done at reception , . . before you get in the line and begin the hours of waiting.

They also say that it will stop people "doctor shopping" which means people who have a dependency on prescription drugs will go to several doctors and present with the same symptoms to get several prescriptions for their drug of choice, it won't while there are doctors who accept cash or credit cards this will continue to happen.

Further they claim that our personal health is not a privacy issue because we happily present when we are ill and the doctor and staff know us and what our ailment is, wrong, they may do , but they are not the government and they are not allowed to divulge the information to anyone else.

My Theory

One of the biggest industries in Australia would love to know our personal health history, the insurance industry.

Consider that all of our information is to be entered into the system eventually (I suspect that it will be a requirement for Doctor's offices to comply with an order to get everyone who visits their office onto the system immediately and upload their complete history at that time, and eventually upload the details of every patient they have ever seen over time) and the government permits access to that information for the purpose of verifying that the insurance claim they are about to pay out for does not stem from an undeclared pre existing condition, there's the start, they may now have access to your complete medical history, these are people (bean counters) who are not in the medical profession and who have no Hippocratic oath and are not bound by the same privacy code that medical professions are.

Further I suspect that the issuing of the 16 digit number with be followed by a card with a chip, and guess what, . . .no card, no treatment!

You will now have your Australia card. Like it or not.



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Winners are grinners, losers can please themselves.

In one of the most creative pre-emptive campaign adds, which definitely struck a chord with the electorate and was hated by Labor diehards, I think because they know it's true, the Kevin O Lemon add only had to be aired for a couple of weeks before the federal Labor was gathering this morning to dump Rudd in favour of the Deputy Leader and first female PM of Australia Julia Gillard.

The slow talking Ms Gillard has been criticised for her ambitions and for being a single woman of age. She has also been criticised for her leftist leanings and for her inability to effect constructive policy during her deputy leader role where she is seen as part and parcel of the inaction that has been one of the main factors in the downfall of Rudd.

Kevin Rudd was elected on the Anti Work Choices platform, it was a vote against the previous (Howard) government and a policy in workplace relations that put the advantage firmly in the hands of employers and left employees powerless and without union backup in enterprise bargaining.

Rudd was probably the most popularly elected PM in some many years, but broken promises and back flips ( the ETS which he described as the most important moral decision, and the government paid advertising that he claims was a cancer on democracy) have seen his standings both with the community and within the party plummet recently.

Rudd is one of a very few PM's to have been put to the knife by the Party, and quite possibly will make history as the weakest PM ever, not only deposed by the party, but in his first term, and going out by not even contesting a party poll but allowing Gillard to be the only candidate after declaring the position vacant and elected unopposed.

Rudd will not be missed, and in future episodes of "Millionaire Hot seat" there will be defeated contestants saying "oh yeah I forgot about him."

It's a sad end for one so glib, one who has revelled in his world tour with his wife at the taxpayers expense, gushing like schoolgirls and basking in their self anointed world leader of importance status which did not go down well with the electorate and has gone down the same way with the party it seems.

Budget backhander to Logan ratepayers

Whatever Logan is thinking I'll never know, with what could very be the largest rate rise of any council in Quieensland to smash working families finances without any real increase in service provision to justify it and if anything in our area cuts to services which have been evident since the amalgamations becoming thread bare if any.

The increase well over 7% is something that many ratepayers will struggle to afford and something that make you wonder how they (the council bean counters and councillors who vote for it)rationalise that we can afford to just keep on paying more rather than making council more efficient and cheaper to run.

A breakdown of the increase :
The residential general rate in the dollar has increased from 0.3076c to 0.3237c (as part of Council’s three-year
policy to counter-act valuation increases).
• The minimum general rate has increased $48 from $551 to $599.
• The increase of general rates and levies for the majority of ratepayers is $73, after discount. Residents who
also have garbage, will pay an additional $79 after discount.

The absolute slug to ratepayers, using what everyone knew would be used, the property valuation increases, as an excuse and the slug of the extra bin that no one wants will be a bone in the throat for many ratepayers who will consider very carefully how they vote next time around.

Our three representatives especially.

Magistrate Rodney Crisp ; Draconian and Drunk on Power ?

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When cases come before a magistrate it is assumed that there will be both fairness and justice albeit within the framework of the the Magistrates jurisdiction and the limited scope of cases brought before a Magistrate.

What has come to the attention of media recently is the case of an apprentice painter who came before Rodney Crisp on a matter and was then detained in custody on the draconian charge of contempt of court relating to blowing a bubble gum bubble during the case.

Mr Crisp, charged the man with contempt and jailed him for 30 days. The man has subsequently been released on appeal to the high court by his lawyers who are pursuing his rights and entitlements on his behalf.

The charge sheet alleges the man had "scandalised" the court and "challenged its authority" by looking in the magistrate's direction and deliberately blowing and popping a bubble.

This is a case, in my opinion of a magistrate drunk on power, where it seems he is so out of touch with reality that I would question his ability to be just and fair and to hold the position of magistrate at all.

In my opinion he would have served the court better to have asked an officer to remove the man to dispose of the gum, which would have made the man look like the fool he was attempting to be rather than make a mockery of the whole court by what I believe is a draconian abuse of power and a dummy spit by a flaccid and powerless individual outside of the court.

We have to rein in the costs of holding court procedures, not increase them by making more work for more lawyers and imposing costs of detainment upon the taxpayers because some pathetic magistrate looses it.

Further, the case will more than likely have to be continued which also adds to the court costs and increases the workload of magistrates and lawyers unnecessarily.

I firmly believe that the charge of contempt needs to go, there is little doubt that quite a large number of people in the community already have contempt for the legal system and this sort of rubbish from a magistrate who already has several controversial decisions to his name is not helping.


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You think free speech is free, think again.

In a recent case, that wasted expensive court time , a lot of taxpayers dollars and ended up with a result not expected by the police prosecutor, the Judge found that a common term used by a citizen would have been heard by police at the very least in fact that they would have heard and used far worse, so in that regard he found the citizen not guilty of swearing at the police officer.

This decision has incensed the Police union and the humiliated the actual officer involved (who should have just hardened up and given the citizen a quiet polite word of advice and let it go at that) and also caused the police lobbyists in Queensland to go for gold with their efforts to have police able to defend their (ears) person from verbal abuse in the form of swearing.

It appears they have been successful because it looks like the police will from late this year or early 2011, have the power to issue on the spot $100 fines for swearing in public, and between $100 and $300 for other public nuisance offences which means they no longer need to carry the burden of proof of an offence and take the matter to court, just write out a ticket potentially raising huge amounts of revenue for the state government in the process.

The burden is then on the citizen issued with the infringement notice and fine to prove to a magistrate that they did not commit the offence, which will be pretty difficult unless you happen to be in the presence of several credible and motivated (so they will come to court and make a statement on your behalf) witnesses.

This is really becoming a police state when in a one on one encounter with police you can be fleeced on the strength of the officers say so that what you may have said was considered swearing in public.

So the question remains , what ever happened to free speech? did we actually ever have it or was it just something we imagined would be good?

In effect the legislation will make the spoken word up to the interpretation of a police officer as to whether it constitutes a public nuisance or not.

Now I'm no rocket scientist but I hardly think police are qualified to establish the context of a cuss, the syntax of a cuss within a sentence or distinguish swearing from a word in a foreign language, in fact they leave themselves wide open to racism allegations if they ticket an ethnic Australian who has a name or word that an officer thinks is a swear word, but in the ethnic language clearly is not.

You have to wonder at how soft police are getting when they can't get over the fact that a judge decided that they should be used to hearing words like "prick" from the general public and that it was not offencive for a citizen to call a police person by that term.

I think Bligh is on a winner with this one because people swear all the time, and think nothing of it, in fact it's part of every tradies vocabulary if you go onto a building site.

I'm not in any way advocating that we as a society accept swearing as part of our daily verbose, or that we remove the unspoken rule that we keep it for the boys, but this seems over the top and another revenue raiser to me.


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ISRAEL, NOW ADDS PIRACY TO IT'S ARSENAL

If the reports from international and Australian journalists are correct, and I believe they probably are, then Israeli military people aboard gunship helicopters and with support vessels boarded whilst armed with automatic assault weapons, a ship in international waters, and that is piracy.

There has been video of the boarding in which the Israel military drop down from the gunship on ropes with guns in their hands onto the deck of a peace envoy headed for the coast, but still in international waters, their mission to deliver aid supplies and make the world aware of the unbearable hardship the Israeli (and more recently Egypt) Blockade is forcing upon civilians in Gaza, particularly women and children.

Reports are that there are 19 who have been shot by Israeli military personnel and of course the Israelis are claiming only 9.

There is no doubt that the Israelis went out to the ship with the intent to make an example or at the very least an incident that would deter others from doing the same.

The video is said to show soldiers dropping to the deck and being mobbed by protesters who used deckchairs and metal objects even sticks to try and force the soldiers to rethink the boarding, apparently even throwing one pathetic soldier overboard.

I have received some very nasty emails responses to my previous blogs about the Israel war on its neighbour, and have had accusations of anti semitism, of purporting a hate crime, and even of using this issue to attack a local person, all of which I strenuously deny, and to that end i removed each comment as they came and did not reply to the emails. However I defend my right to take a position as an independent observer, and report stories as they occur and unfortunately they seem to occur more about Israel attacking Gaza than the other way around.

I have to say I believe Israel's sinking to this new low, an act of international piracy, surely must have the USA looking to withdraw some of its military backing that makes the Israeli attacks on Gaza seem like Godzilla stepping on an ants nest.

The ULDA takes over Yarrabilba and Flagstone as Logan fails to deliver.

Yarrabliba and Flagstone could begin by the end of 2011.


This link was sent to me from one of the locals around here who is part of a group that keeps an eye on the goings on in the community as far as government at all levels and their decisions effects on lifestyle, environment and amenity, I thought you might be interested.

The link above gets you to the article in the local paper and from it you can get all the information as far as it is known.

It seems that Logan council has not delivered the goods quickly enough for a money hungry State Government who gifted them a huge portion of Beaudesert in the amalgamations and assumed that the two estates would be given the green light, in return.

Logan has dropped the ball, they weren't going to allow these major development areas to compete with one in the old Logan (Park Ridge MDA) and hadn't planned to get them going before it was well established, if not finished.

People who have invested millions in the Park Ridge area will be counting their return going backwards about now, Knowing how the other developers move once the projects are started.

I guess the work is just too hard over at Springfield, and easier country is being looked at for that developer.

Bligh is trying to sell the idea with one of the developers own lines calling the housing estates "masterplanned communities" which is demonstrative of the relationship between the Labor government and the developers.

Communities are not for sale through developers, communities are made up of people, when will governments realise that?


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Logan ; lets talk Roads and Bridges.

We've probably all read the absolute bullshit coming out of Logan Council about the closure of Edwards Bridge on the Greenbank to Springfield road, and the extra expense it will add to truck owners and to add the extra fuel use, carbon emissions and tyre and engine particulates pushed into the environment.

Logan actually appears to be waging a war against Truckies at the moment with new draconian parking regulations complete with charges to park on your own property and now with this unthinking and uncaring closure for vehicles above 15ton GVM.

Now we're seeing the closure of a section of Chambers Flat Road between School Road and Koplick Road in Logan Reserve for an upgrade of the surface and adding wider shoulders , for a period of about 3 months assuming whether allows.


Ok so why is this making my Blog? well you may ask.


I don't know about you but it is highly suspicious that the Chambers Flat Road upgrades/repairs stop at the boundary of old Logan and the Edwards Bridge is also outside old Logan and it seems that there is a conscious decision not to spend one cent outside old Logan.

The worst part of Chambers Flat Road is actually between Koplick and Logan Reserve roads where trucks often need to still get a wheel off the road to allow another wide vehicle to pass, it is bumpy and pot holed and has large trees within a couple of meters of the carriageway in places, and yet Logan aren't going to do anything to it, instead they will do up a wide part which is to be fair not in the best condition but not anywhere near as bad.

People in the old North of Beaudesert are being short changed, charged full rates even though receiving almost zero services and when road upgrades come they are left out in the cold.

The local councillor is Phil Pidgeon and if you have questions as to why we are being avoided when it comes to spending money, I suggest you contact him.

philpidgeon@logan.qld.gov.au or 3412 5402


If you want to make a complaint about roadworks in general, the responsible chair is Ray Hackwood.

rayhackwood@logan.qld.gov.au or 3412 4471


It is obvious we are being set up to just continue to pay so that fat cats like the CEO and his deputies can get awards and reap huge salaries while we get ripped off big time, the amalgamations have left us worse off in fact we'd be better off if Brisbane amalgamated Logan now. Is that too wild a thought?


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40% Federal govt. mining tax, . . more harm than good?

Like everyone I've been waiting to see how Rudd, Gillard and Swan would try to sell us the mining tax at 40%, but other than the initial communist line that they are digging up wealth that belongs to all Australians so wee should profit from it rather than just a few mining magnates, I've seen no good reason that we will be better off.

Firstly consider this, every time a new tax is applied, the taxpayers have to pay for it as the end user of services and products.

Ok so in that context, Ruddy taxes miners at 40% and puts the money into consolidated revenue to pay back the debt accrued by handing out $900 to everyone and to fund the nation building program, end of story? I don't think so.

When you read their statements you automatically think of the giant Bauxite miners, the coal giants or the iron ore millionaires, but wait, there's more, every quarry , every driller and every small extrusion also are classified as miners and will be taxed as such.


What does that mean for the ordinary man in the street?

Well for one thing it means that the price of any and every quarry supply, and in turn everything made from it will go up by about 40%
.Soil, sand and gravel
.Bricks and tiles
.wall sheeting
.cement
.landscape supplies
.pots and stones
.do I need to continue?


I would suggest that almost everything will increase in price and you and I will pay the 40% tax to Rudd, Gillard and Swan, not the miners who will still drive fancy imported cars, live in mansions and take home their million dollar bonuses, it will be you and I who are worse off, again as usual.


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Rats, . . . deserting the stinking ship.

The fallout from the quitting of McLindon and Messenger has begun to settle with the party and the public left wondering what actually went down and a very coy McLindon still throwing buckets rather than admitting he was reacting to being chastised for disloyalty.

When the Party put up those big dollar campaign funds to get him elected, endorsements, introductions to people of substantial wherewithal as far as wealth and ability to fund campaigns also, and provided a very good infrastructure to back a candidate in a seat where that particular party is the flavour the people are looking for regardless of the name on the voting card, McLindon was happy to use what he they could offer to get elected.

As of today, we are privy to another desertion of the LNP ranks, in a relatively unknown Darren Power, another Logan Councillor who along with McLindon, Ban and Black were members of the LNP and councillors at Logan. With the exception of Black who it seems is to marry Ban (a city slicker, career politician and spinster looking to be elected in a safe Nationals rural seat,) they have all dumped their divisions to run for other office positions (Power has just announced it)

It seems that the ardor with which the LNP selected younger, semi profiled people to try to alter the image of the older looking Country Party type membership profile has come around to kick them in the bum, and may quite probably see Labor again win the Federal and state elections, no matter whether seats are won by some of the new LNP candidates or not.

As the bail out of LNP members continues, and looking at the trend on cannot for a minute expect more bailouts in the future, particularly those who are affiliated like McLindon, Power and Ban; and even if Ban states that it will not happen, she has already stated that she would not dump her division and run again for a federal seat and yet she has done just that and with a history of lying about loyalty you'd have to suspect her to get elected and then quit the party to join MCLindon and Messenger's new congregation of independents when (if) it gets up.

I expect that the Party is now examining Ban very closely, and looking at the past to try to decide if she is worthy of continued support, but she has the ability to convince older males of anything, somehow, so I expect she will remain as the candidate for now.

If I were part of the Liberal side of the LNP I'd be looking to close the Lib ranks and distance myself from the imploding National Party side.

With the old North Beaudesert right in the middle of this Party self destruction we are probably going to miss out big time while the political players put themselves, their careers and their greed above what should be their desire to serve the community.


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