By Andrew Bolt ~
An introduction from TonyfromOz…..
While this article is centred around the State of Queensland in Australia, what it most effectively shows is how the left side of politics is mainly about big Government, and implementing policies to further that end. In Australia, that left side of politics is the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and they are similar in everything they do to the Democratic Party in the U.S. The State of Queensland recently had a State election and the incumbent ALP Government was thrown out of office in what can only be called an ignominious landslide. The new State Premier is Campbell Newman, from the Liberal National Party, from the Conservative side of the political fence here in Australia. The position of State Premier is the same as that of State Governors in the U.S.
Since that huge election victory, Newman has been seeking to turn the State around. He was left with what amounts to a crippling debt, and Premier Newman has been seeking to find savings that will reduce that enormous debt. To this end, he has been taking the axe to Public Service jobs throughout the State. Public Service Unions have been loud and very noisy in their protests over these job losses. The media outlets, who mainly support that left side of politics, have also been loud in their protests also, supporting that left side of politics, despite such a huge landslide victory for the new Government. The impression given to the people as a result of this constant media bashing would seem to be that the public are growing disenchanted with the new Government. There is bombardment from every quarter of the media in their supposed outrage at what is happening.
However, what this latest Newspoll result shows is in fact the absolute opposite of this supposed outrage. They actually believe that the new Premier is in fact doing a good job, a job that had to be done. What has also become patently obvious is the enormous growth in the workforce in those Public Service Sectors under the former Government, which is the agenda of those Governments from the left side of politics. This article from Andrew goes on to explain that enormous growth in those Public Service sectors, all of during the tenure of the ALP State Government.
This is starkly highlighted in the second paragraph of this article which shows the enormous build up in Public Service jobs in just the Health sector alone, and this supposed slashing of jobs in that Health sector is the one that has been getting the most attention in the media, leaving people with the thought that these cutbacks will dramatically affect Health services in the State. This article tells the truth about those job losses, and the media hype has been shown to be just that ….. hype, as those job losses are in fact quite small when taken on an overall basis, and put in graphic context when the increase in numbers under the former ALP Government is shown.
What the public have now said in this Newspoll survey is that they are quite happy with the way things are going, and are not really believing what the Media and those Public Service Union leaders are saying so loudly in public through the media. Andrew’s article explains the Newspoll results, and also details the extent of the build up of public service jobs during the former Government’s period in Office.
Queensland State Premier Campbell Newman
The latest Newspoll suggests that maybe, just maybe, the message is getting through that the money really has gone and Campbell Newman had no option:
THE vocal backlash against Campbell Newman’s cost-cutting drive – and federal Labor’s attempts to demonise the Queensland leader as part of its campaign against Tony Abbott – have failed to dent the popularity of the Premier and his Liberal National Party…
When preferences are factored in, the LNP is 20 points clear of state Labor, 60-40 per cent, two-party-preferred. This is broadly in line with the election result that delivered 78 of the 89 state seats in Queensland to the LNP on a two-party-preferred vote of 62.8 per cent, against Labor’s 37.2 per cent.
A few weeks ago, I was tuned in to the evening news to be told that the LNP government was planning to cut 1500 jobs in health.
Gosh, I thought, 1500 jobs sounds quite a lot. So I decided to find out how many people are employed in Queensland Health. The answer is more than 80,000. Annual natural attrition would account for more than double the proposed job cuts of 1500, which represent a mere 1.9 per cent of total employment.
But here’s the rub. A decade ago, employment in Queensland Health stood at 49,000….
But here’s a further rub. Whereas the number of nurses in effective full-time terms increased by 65 per cent over the decade, the number of managerial and clerical staff rose by 103 per cent during the same period.
So what to make of federal Labor screaming against such jobs cuts and vowing not to implement any such thing themselves? Well, not much:
… this year’s budget explicitly plans for a cut of 3073 in the average staffing level of agencies in the Australian government general government sector – a cut of 1.3 per cent (not much lower than the planned cut to Queensland Health).
And with the super-efficiency dividend of 4 per cent being imposed on government agencies… it is entirely plausible the number could be double the planned reduction of 3000. So, yes, the federal Labor government also slashes jobs…
Having been told by Kevin Rudd that the “reckless spending” must stop and that a “meat axe” would be taken to the “bloated” public service, in government, Labor went weak at the knees. The Australian public service has grown by an average of just under 1 per cent a year since the Labor government has been in office.
Evidently, the meat axe was very blunt. It is only now that job cuts are being made.
Andrew Bolt is a journalist and columnist writing for The Herald Sun in Melbourne Victoria Australia.
Andrew Bolt’s columns appear in Melbourne’s Herald Sun, Sydney’s Daily Telegraph and Adelaide’s Advertiser. He runs the most-read political blog in Australia and hosts Channel 10’s The Bolt Report each Sunday at 10am, and his book Still Not Sorry remains very widely read.
Read more excellent articles from Andrew Bolt’s Blog . http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/
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Posted on Mon 10/01/2012 by papundits
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