Rudd was a micro manager with a vicious bent who justified his control on the grounds that everyone else was stupid. The administration in Canberra had descended into paralysis. He lost interest after he failed to win China over at the Copenhagen Conference.
Those who had experience of him in Queensland warned of his micro management. At least there he was contained as not being the head honcho. He got leave without pay from his Commonwealth public service job and gave payback to those who tried to get him off the Commonwealth public service books after an absence of 7 years or so. This was at a time when the Razor Gang decimated the service and banned any new positions.
His arrogance was beyond bounds. He did not have a faction, but felt no need to court factions.
I always thought his ambition to be PM was a career stepping stone to further his chances to become the UN SG.
All that said he was vastly preferable to the Squibs weâve had of late and I for one wouldnât mind a stubborn Mandarin speaking PM right about now, let alone the next decade. Billâs sticking his toe in the koi pond right now, hope it doesnât get bitten off.
I think having a mandarin speaking labor leader would be the worst thing possible. Especially going into an electio, where ties to China will be viewed as a negative with most of the electorate.
âBeyond redemptionâ: Renewed push to ban live exports following damning report
By Fergus Hunter, Latika Bourke & Simon Johanson
31 October 2018 â 4:53pm
Crossbench MPs have seized on a damning review of the governmentâs handling of live sheep exports and are reviving efforts to abolish the trade.
Agriculture Minister David Littleproud on Wednesday ordered a complete overhaul of his department in response to the review, which concluded there was a reluctance to police the industry, animal welfare standards had not been backed by science, and public servants were unprepared and unskilled.
The report by integrity expert Philip Moss linked department failures to budget cuts and other decisions by the Abbott government and former agriculture minister Barnaby Joyce - notably the abandonment of the Australian Animal Welfare Strategy and the branch which enforced it.
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Protestors calling for the end of live exports earlier this year.Credit:Tony McDonough
The government has accepted all of Mr Mossâ 31 recommendations, including the establishment of an independent watchdog, subjecting vessels to random checks, and industry-funded surveillance technology to monitor welfare.
âCompliance and regulation should not be a bureaucratic tick box,â Mr Littleproud said. âTo change culture, the light needs to be shone onto animal welfare and the threat of being caught and punished needs to be real.â
While the minister has promised to immediately âresetâ the embattled industry and make it sustainable, crossbenchers have signalled a new legislative effort to phase out the live sheep trade.
Independent Kerryn Phelps said she would enter the Parliament with a view to calling time on the industry pending the formal declaration of her victory in the Wentworth byelection.
âThe live sheep export industry has had plenty of chances to lift its game and in my view is beyond redemption," she said.
âHaving seen footage of live sheep being transported to the Middle East in terrible conditions I see no justification for this inhumane trade."
Tasmanian independent MP Andrew Wilkie said the Moss review was further proof the trade needs to be shut down. He said the recommendations would amount to âonly a small improvement to a trade that is systemically cruelâ.
âThere is simply no amount of regulation that can make live export not cruel,â Mr Wilkie said, signalling he would reintroduce a private membersâ bill to end the trade.
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Video reveals export sheep were âcooking aliveâ
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WARNING GRAPHIC IMAGES: Disturbing footage filmed by a whistleblower shows the crew of the Awassi Express collecting thousands of disintegrating sheep carcasses and disposing of them into the ocean. Footage courtesy Animals Australia.
âThis will be the seventh bill Iâve introduced to end the cruelty and I hope it will get support, particularly among the expanded crossbench. I also hope that government and opposition members whoâve spoken out about the trade will show some backbone and support the bill.â
Labor has already committed to phasing out live sheep exports. Liberal MPs Sussan Ley and Sarah Henderson were working to end it but abandoned the effort after being promoted to the frontbench under Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
The Australian Livestock Exportersâ Council welcomed the Moss reviewâs recommendations and the push to improve industry culture.
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Leadership
Forget Barnaby Joyceâs affair - this is why he should not return to the leadership
âExporters have demonstrated a willingness to reform to secure a sustainable future for the livestock export industry and to ensure producers who rely on the trade have certainty and confidence for the future," ALEC chairman Simon Crean said.
National Farmersâ Federation chief executive Tony Mahar said the changes should be implemented urgently.
âWe have said from day one that things need to change. The footage and incidents we and everyone else saw were unacceptable. Governance and accountability of the regulator has to improve,â Mr Mahar said.
Introducing an inspector general of live exports and using clear scientific animal welfare indicators were a step in the right direction, he said.
âThese are absolutely measures that will make a difference.â
Western Australia Pastoralists and Graziers Association president Tony Seabrook was more critical, saying the changes would establish an adversarial relationship between the regulator and exporters.
One should never ever under-estimate the sheer ignorance and stupidity of humans, especially when they are eligible to vote
Well Perce, I always like your comments, but I disagree with your views on KRudd.
Big Al is on the mark with his comments, and the evidence from so many sources is very compelling that Kev is indeed a gigantic tossa.
I first met him just before the 2007 election at a function in Ballarat for Local Government. I was our Shire representative with our CEO, and stood in line to shake his hand. Seriously even then he was only interested in anything that would give him publicity and was all about the best photo opportunity. I gave him the benefit of the doubt and supported his election as a good Labor bloke, and invited him to visit us, but we were far too unimportant. Reports from other MPs I knew very well weâre not good, as they said he was very hard to work with and unless he got his own way then he would just sulk like a child.
Many say it was only due to Swan and Gillard that we got though the GFC.
Now I have also had the priviledge to meet Julia Gillard many times. She is open to discussion and very easy to talk with, showing a sincere interest in others.
Not sure why you do not like her, but getting rid of Rudd was a real positive for our Nation. Sadly back then the Labor Caucus was weak and uninspiring and returning to Rudd was a mistake.
Department takes the hit after Joyce gutted its animal welfare function at a time when animal welfare issues were getting bigger and bigger at the national and international level and required more resources. It made economic sense as well .
If itâs Brendan OâConnor youâre referring to, we should take into account his recent personal tragedy. His partner died of cancer just a couple of months ago, so Iâd say his mind was on her trouble for quite some time.
You say a Prime Minister who can converse with our biggest trading partners in their own language would be a disadvantage ? The masses are happy to wear Chinese clothes, dine off Chinese crockery, manipulating their food with Chinese cutlery, and sell massive quantities of raw materials to China and yet you maintain that âties to China will be viewed as a negative with most of the electorate.â
I hope youâre wrong. Otherwise we might end up bringing back Tony Abbott to save us from the Yellow Peril.
Joyceâs fingerprints all over another travesty.
Thatâs exactly what the incumbent NZ govât said when they were in opposition.
Iâm sick of this neo-liberal â â â â .
Murdoch press would have a field day pointing out labors âcloseâ ties to Chinese government and businesses and the average aussie would lap it up, unfortunately. Especially after dastiyari
This same press would then point out the benefits of having a Liberal PM who had a good relationship with Chinese Investors.
It was a very sad and tragic loss for Brendan. His Partner was a lovely person.
If my criticism is about Brendan, it is not just recent. I like plans and when we have an industry like the car industry decimated, in my view, Labor should have had a massive job creation plan, not just âre-trainingâ.
In fact, my push has been for industry creation, and while the precinct at Deakin Uni is a good start, there are opportunities to build viable production centres in many sectors. While I would favour Government owned enterprise, even tied grants would be better than previous funding attempts or the nothing at present to building manufacturing industry.
Should be going hard at the EV industry. Sonen are setting up a battery factory in Elizabeth. Perhaps something similar could be done in Geelong? Should be producing our own wind turbines and towers. Guptaâs expanded steelworks using renewables in Whyalla is promising (albeit using recycled steel)along with other smelting projects around the country. Perhaps we need to look at processing the many raw materials we mine here with the cheap power coming. Sundrop farms can run a giant greenhouse on desal water fully powered by renewables and turn a profit. Thatâs gotta be the future in that area of agriculture. Figure out how to separate the salt from the rest of the desal waste cheaply and youâve got fertiliser. Then thereâs the so called green hydrogen industry that is being talked up which could also be used to make ammonia for fertiliser or simply to store it for energy production.
There are options that donât involve making ICE cars and mining/burning coal and gas.
The other thing we need to do here is a recycling industry. Cans, bottles, paper, PET plastics, that sort of thing.
For yearâs weâve been exporting that stuff to China, but they stopped accepting offshore waste earlier in the year, and since then itâs just stacking up or going into landfill, which kinda defeats the point.
We canât just assume that at some point weâll convince some other 3rd world country to deal with our junk. Thatâs a strategy without a future - eventually youâll run out of impoverished countries with corrupt or nonexistent environmental regulatory regimes to bury under an avalanche of used tissues and empty stubbies. Theyâre going to start knocking back first world waste just like China did. It should be done here.
Absolutely.
There is also some leading research into composting pest animals and re-carboning (?) soil that is definitely worth investment.
Combine plastic recycling with 3D printing. Bingo!
How many local community projects could use recycled plastic items? Park benches, playground equipment, planter boxes, stairs & handrails, etc. Any doubt this would be unpopular with voters? âWeâre going to build a recycling plant. It will provide jobs, reduce waste and environmental damage, reduce our reliance on buttfark countries to take our trash, and produce material and items that will directly support and improve our local communitiesâ. Gotta be more popular than the desal plant at a minimum. Andrews govt has been pretty good so far, so hopefully they get rolling on something like this and not wait for federal action. Maybe a project for the Latrobe Valley?
Yep.
They can start with the Carp.
I trust every Gardening Blitzer is doing their best to help irradicate the barstards by buying âCharlie Carpâ fertilizer already of course.
WHAT IS CHARLIE CARP?
Charlie Carp is an innovation in liquid fish fertiliser. Not only is it the best natural fertiliser on the market for your lawn and garden, it also helps to sustain a healthy environment and stabilise the natural ecosystem here in Australia.
We supply liquid fish fertiliser in its purest form by using the whole fish and adding nothing else in the manufacturing process. Charlie Carp fish fertiliser provides an almost perfect balance to deliver plants and grass enough nutrients they need for healthy growth. It contains both micro and macro nutrients that help to give you long-lasting results in the colour and health of your garden or lawn.
Soil health will also prosper with Charlie Carp. Fish fertiliser has been proven to improve soil quality, leading to enhanced, deeper rooting due to the better penetration of nutrients and water. It can also rebuild and replenish older, unproductive soil, bringing it back to life.
Perfect for everything your garden grows we use the whole fish so Charlie Carp is full of all the vitamins and minerals essential for a beautiful garden and lawn. Economical and easy to apply Charlie Carp goes to work immediately creating a healthy immune system and strong growthâŚâŚnot only are we growing beautiful gardens and lawnsâŚwe are cleaning up the waterways of Australia.
I donât use Charlie Carp, much as Iâd prefer to, because if I use any animal-based fertiliser the â â â â â â foxes dig up all the plants to get at it. Seasol all the way, unfortunately.
We do produce wind turbines and towers, and it is also a thriving export industry.
One is Morse Power