27 March 2008

Chief Minister Asleep at the Wheel?

| beasley
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Does anyone know if our intrepid socialist Leader is taking a break from the hard grind of Office thinking he can coast in at the next election?

Just checking out what the CM has been up to through his media releases for the last two months and it is chock a block with commentary on events and activities he has had nothing to do with in a policy or leadership sense.

I was going to create a list, but it became a very lengthy process, so instead, just look at:

http://www.chiefminister.act.gov.au/media.asp?section=0&title=Media%20Releases

As you can see, it is:

– commentary on various publications and statistics (low unemployment, reduction in greenhouse footprint)
– commentary on public matters (welcoming police horses home, albert hall turning 80, world book day)
– announcements of inquiries (call for Hertigae grant applications)
– a few useless chips at the Opposition (Smyth defacto Leader)

I admit that there are a couple of things in there worthy of mentioning, but the amount of useless commentary seems over the top. More likely a case of public servants in PR who are justifying their existence. Or it could just be that he is not doing anything, so the spin doctors have to make it seem like he is.

For a man getting paid over $200K a year, frankly I think we can expect more than a community service announcer.

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Just wait until you see the initiation ceremony we have planned for all you newbies! 🙂

Even the blogs in Canberra have to have hierarchies…hilarious.

Agree that the coming election should see an influx of new readers, but I don’t think a “circling of the wagons” approach of dimissing these new readers as simply blow-ins with nothing to contribute / political stooges is healthy. An election naturally increases the interest of people in things political, so I’m sure most of these people will be genuine contributors with entirely valid views. Not that you shouldn’t maintain a bit of skepticism, but it’s easy to go overboard with the cynicism / isolationism. I think I’ve been seeing a bit of that starting lately, and it worries me (not aimed at any particular comments in this thread, I’m talking about a period of a few months).

What kind of name is Zed anyway?

But surely that’s a good thing?

Thumper – or should I call you Zed?? Have we unmasked you – leader of the esteemed Opposition! I am not in favour of Labor either – ACT politics is a joke, but Zed is even more of one!!!

Asleep at the wheel?

More like Dead on Arrival!

No Thumper, I’m not an ACT Labor acolyte. But I can see why you’d be suspicious of us newbies.

The ACT Libs are a grotesque car smash of incompetence – even their former, would have been leader (Mulcahy) said they were not fit for government. There must be better candidates than Pratt/Burke/Dunne, even if they were picked at random from the phone book. Smyth and Stefaniak are marginal, and Zed is probably less experienced at anything than anyone in public life anywhere in the universe. As with a car smash, there’s a sort of morbid interest in watching as one drives past, braking before running into the rubbernecker up the road.

Their shortcomings make it possible for the local ALP to be as useless as they are and still seem so much better than the alternative. Stanhope is a grown up, like him or not. He beats Zed the way a rottweiler would beat a pomeranian. Barr and Corbell seem better at dealing woth issues than Smyth or Stefaniak; Katy Gallagher is marginal. Hargreaves is a clown, as are the backbench, most of whom would probably be overstressed brushing their teeth. As a group, they’re unimpressive.

I have begged in the past for some adults to form a party and run. This town is full of people with experience in the public service, academia, the law and business – my guess is that a couple of retired Secretaries could run the ACT Government better than either major party if they worked every other Wednesday morning before heading off to golf. In fact, I keep wondering why we don’t just have three competent ACT Commissioners, advised by a small bureaucracy and slightly answerable to a part-time council.

ha hah ha thumper getting indignant about biased political comments…. hello pot this the kettle calling

I agree wagons, that’s one of the main reasons I wouldn’t vote for the the Libs at this election.

Zed is a right wing religious fanatic – can’t believe what I am reading here people!! If you want abortion banned and football players in the govt, go right ahead.

The dishevelled Libs are not providing a viable alternative. Wonder if the Sundried Tomatoes will run again?

Seriously though I hope we get some outstanding Independents and Greens to vote for next time around. Only way to demonstrate our angst at the lack of quality leadership and representation is not to vote for the majors – it only encourages them.

Perhaps he feels that at the moment the other side are only really offereing Zed, he’s support is limited and could turn and bite him at anytime.

Yes, Zed has too many idiots around him….Smyth, Pratt, Burke etc etc. I wouldn’t vote for the Libs unless they get their act together. And when there is talk that Tony ‘underbelly’ DeDemenico’s son may be running…it makes me get the runs!

Perhaps number of Media Releases aren’t the most ideal performance measure to apply?

Although I do recall a few people applying that test to Bob McMullan last year 😉

Big Jon has CM’s Talkback tomorrow morning at 9 on 666. Mebbe give him a buzz?

Oops, by “he” I mean Stanhope, not Zed.

He’s in the CT today at that COAG thing about water allocations, saying “The ACT doesn’t have any irrigators”. Er, hello?! It has both river AND bore irrigators!

Zed needs a few more years asleep at teh wheel before i would vote for him.

I agree with Mr Evil.

Zed has got potential, but he’s dragged down by the deadwood surrounding him.

Fair call as I have only dissected Stanhope and not the Opposition Leader. I now provide a more balanced review having just checked out the ACT Liberal Leader media activities.

http://www.canberraliberals.org.au/default.cfm?action=news_search&category=70

Trying to remain balanced in my analysis, I note the Lib Leader has been the typical Opposition critising Stanhope for perceived failures, but he has been active on policy covering quite a lot of issues such as drug use, young families, violence in schools, and housing affordability to name a few as well as pushing through a few community forums on issues like education.

If I was a judge on effort and had to award a prize, it would be to Zed.

I daresay that with the new federal government and associated wrangling including COAG meetings, jockeying for position and funds. I reckon the CM is for a change earning his bucks for the new year.

neanderthalsis2:02 pm 27 Mar 08

I think we need to start preparing for the next ACT local council elections. As the RiotAct is the only purveyor of political pugnacity of any great value in the territory, we should band together and launch the ABS (Anyone But Stanhope)campaign. Not aligned to any particular party, the aim would be to encourage people to vote for anyone else other than the Labor party (I personally can’t vote for a party that spells their own name incorrectly, there is a U in there you pillocks).

Send a message to the Labor hacks that we demand a Govt that actually serves the community rather than posturing and posing, pretending that they are something more than a just bit player on the national stage.

LIBERAL STOOGE! How dare you question Jon Stanhope’s ‘leadership’ of the ACT! 🙂

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