Top-heavy service weighs us all down
I NEED not remind anyone that a state election is due in a few weeks’ time and we will be continually bombarded with more of the same political grandstanding by all parties involved, telling us why we should vote for party X and why we should not be voting for party Y.
All hypothetical of course.
I find it amusing to see the TV coverage of this political circus whereby individual parties strive to get their faces before the allimportant cameras.
Readers do not have to be made aware of these boring events of which I speak, and the head nodders in the background (the candidates vying for the audience vote) are so predictable in their onscreen antics.
Then again we are bombarded with promises made by the various political players and the opposing leaders trying to cry each other down and invariably asking where the money is coming from to pay for all these election carrots.
No doubt there are a hell of a lot of other voters just like me on whom all this expensive selfpromotion is water off a duck’s back.
At this point let me make it clear to the electorate that with the huge debt already incurred by the state, every single dollar
promised on the election trail is borrowed money on which we, the taxpayer, will be having to foot the infinite interest bill for many years to come.
One escalating failing with government is it has overloaded the public service gravy train with personnel who, instead of fasttracking government legislation, set up their own little “kingdoms” within the various portfolios and bog everything down with red tape while drinking copious cups of coffee.
And of course they dare not bite the hand that feeds them.
Campbell Newman (along with old Blind Freddie) knew this was a scourge that had to be remedied, and we all know how it abruptly shortened his political career.
Queenslanders had a golden opportunity to put the cleaners through our top-heavy government, but instead the ALP made good mileage from the Newman plan and has reigned supreme ever since.
I have no doubt that the backroom boys in all spheres of politics would dearly love to see a lot of weight taken off this topheavy echelon of government, but unless a bipartisan agreement can be reached between the major parties (no chance of that) the top will only get heavier.
And if Anna is successful in her bid to retain power, an even heavier public service is a lay down misere as payment rendered for their ballot box support.
DON MORRIS, Cranbrook
FERAL CATS REAL WORRY
The article “Battle for pest program” (TB, 15/10) explains how the acting mayor of Charters Towers is concerned about the dingoes pulling down calves in her district and that the 1080 program needs to be uplifted.
It never ceases to amaze me how these people and grazier organisations up here never seem to mention the problem of feral cats, which are killing millions of our beautiful little native birds and animals every night in the Australian bush.
All they seem to be worried about is wild dogs tearing down cattle.
I get the shooters’ magazines and in the southern states the man on the land allows responsible city-based hunters, at their own expense mind you, to go on their properties and hunt down these horrible destructive creatures.
Cats can do more harm than dogs in the bush because they can climb trees and pull baby birds from their nests.
I really believe that all of us who have a genuine concern for these gorgeous little native birds and animals should make our voices heard on this subject, loud and clear.
KEN KNUTH, Rangewood
NO GREENS DEAL, PLEASE
Just when we thought there might be a chance of ditching Labor at the upcoming Queensland state election, our hopes are shattered by reports that the LNP seems keen to do a deal with the Greens – God forbid!
Heaven knows that they are the biggest thorn in the bum of progress this state/country has ever had the displeasure to see.
Rebuild the state economy and create jobs, secure water supply for future generations, build new and better roads reads the mailbox flyer.
(No mention of a tear-down, ground-up rebuild of the criminal justice system … Way too hard!)
The Greens are the coronavirus of large-scale industry and development, so Deb, you have to win this one fair and square. No Greens deal, please.
It’s too horrifying to contemplate.
ROSS SMITH, Gulliver