RFDS Dubbo ripped off by Rudd?

[Jabawocky]

Far be it for me to believe much you read in the press, however this is not good news for the likes of RFDS folk in Dubbo.:=

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=563741

I hope that they are compensated by funds under a different scheme.......you know the old moving sand castles on the beach accounting method!:rolleyes:

J:(

[Capt Wally]

................I didn't vote for them:bored:

I think those that did will over time pay for their mistakes.



CW

[Sunfish]

I suspect a suitable approach to the Health Minister may change things. From what I recall the regional partnerships program was a Liberal slush fund.

[ZEEBEE]

".I didn't vote for them
I think those that did will over time pay for their mistakes."

I suspect that we ALL will....:(

The WA budget allocated only $2 mill extra for the RFDS (barely enough to counter fuel and op cost rises) :ouch:and when they complained, the Health Minister here dismissed them as a "special interest group" that always complains when they're hard done by...

[Old Fella]

"I'll look into it" Mr Rudd, along with the Union bosses, has "hood-winked" enough people into believing good will come from a Labor government. How many times do some have to be hit over the head to wake up to the "Robin Hood" mentality of the ALP? The Treasurer Swan Budget should be enough to see that nothing has changed from the days of Mr Rudd's predecessors where anyone with the capacity to accumulate perceived wealth is fair game to support the less wealthy. Mr Whitlam started Australia on the road of "Sit on your bum and hold out your hand folks" government. Bob Hawke, the man who reckons "pilots are only glorified bus drivers", and the self proclaimed "World's Greatest Treasurer" Paul Keating who gave us "the recession we had to have" continued the tradition, contributed to many small business going bust due to the totally unfair "unfair dismissal laws" and ended up with a $96 Billion government debt left to the Coalition to repay. Let's just watch and wait for our country to again slide into massive debt. Don't forget, the surplus Mr Rudd and Mr Swan enjoy at the moment, and the freedom from government debt, was all achieved by the Coalition. Labor, in concert with the totally disproportionately powerful union bosses, will surely find a way to blow the surplus and, more than likely build another massive debt.

[ForkTailedDrKiller]

I didn't vote for them, and never would! Hopefully they will self destruct before the next election........but........

1) Little Jonnie had clearly lost the plot - but none of his mob had the balls to turf him out in time to have a reasonable shot at the election. Once his God complex was fully developed, the election outcome was almost a given.

2) Kevi's mob had to axe the Regional Partnership funding. It was a nothing but a National Party pork barrelling fund - and everybody knew it. Just look at the fact that it was administered through the Transport Department - ie John Anderson's portfolio. Many of the Regional Partnership Scheme projects failed to deliver. The RFDS funding to Dubbo unfortunately was an innocent bistander caught up in this.

3) Does the RFDS really need to have seven (7) bases in Qld?

Dr :8

[Howard Hughes]

3) Does the RFDS really need to have seven (7) bases in Qld?

Surely Brissie, Cairns and Isa would cover it!:ok:

Back to the topic, the RFDS as whole tend to have fairly good political contacts on both sides of the political fence. I expect the money will be funded from other sources and announced with much hoopla praising the Rudd Government, just as it was when the Libs were in power...:rolleyes:

[Capt Wally]

nice to see/read some good support for the party lost. I agree Forky JH was at the end of his usefullness but even tho we had pain we had stability. The Rudd Govt is showing signs of destroying a country that has suffered much to get to where it is now. You don't get this far by being Mr nice guy & handing what money we collect out like lollies!
Remember guys that the RFDS is just part of the wider health services that Australia has. Health services costs this country zillions & with 21 Mill population that's a lot of strain on the working few to cover EVERYBODY.

To the many thousands out there that give to the RFDS I/we thank you:ok:


CW

[Under Dog]

The Rfds base at Dubbo is under utilized any way so why throw more money at it.

Regards The Dog

[Howard Hughes]

Rumour has it Mr Rudd was actually wearing an RFDS pin in parliament on budget day!:eek:

[maxter]

"Don't forget, the surplus Mr Rudd and Mr Swan enjoy at the moment, and the freedom from government debt, was all achieved by the Coalition."

Bull sh.t I say. They sold the family silver and the back paddock as well and left very little in the infrastructure improvements this country needs to get us through the tougher times coming. They never had the guts to finish the job of economic reform started with the GST. We are very lucky to be going through a commodities boom that alows poor governments to look good.

Rudd and co will be no better but maybe the change will let the other mob go away and have a good hard look at themselves and discover what good leadership really looks like. Leadership is not 'do or say whatever it takes' to get re-elected that J.H tried to perfect. Well past his use-by and not lamented. I fear they will not be ready to be a credible force in 3 years time

I regularly attend Westpac's Bill Evans after budget talks and his commentary on the previous lots economic management was hardly glowing. This one only scrapped a pass as well.

[2b2]

lol

keep it up fellas!

was starting to forget just how good it was to kick 'em out!

[BEACH KING]

"Surely Brissie, Cairns and Isa would cover it!:ok:"

Howard Hughes, I am hoping like hell that you speak in jest, as most of your posts are fairly sensible.

[Capt Claret]

Well I'm still happy Rudd won. :}

[Flyingblind]

On the surface this looks like a Liberal Party fan boy site.

They lost because in their last 3 years they were utter Sh#ie for this country, don't get me started on what the last did (not) do for this country.

KRudd and Co will be here for at least the next two elections and they may make significant changes to our way of doing business, whether for the country's good or not i don't pretend to know, all i do know is that it's a change for the better.

Either way Australia is a LOT better off (generally) than the last lot of do-nothing-i'm-all-right Doctors wife's club. Just look at Nelsons budget reply and his 1996 comment!

[Howard Hughes]

KRudd and Co will be here for at least the next two election
I'll put money on it being only one more term!

I would agree however that the current Liberal leader is totally inept!:ok:

The next Liberal Prime Mnister will be Joe Hockey!:eek:

[Capt Wally]

I don't want to get too far off trk here but I believe that the Libs will suffer the same problems that the Labor Govt had for many years prior to getting in, & that's poor leadership. Once the Libs get a decent 'front' man then they have an excellent chance of regaining power before the KRUDD (I like that, the way someone put it) destroys a great country.
Now all of this is just personal opinion & although some have shown their childish nasty behavour in here that's not what we professional people are about.
Labor won fair & square, I just didn't vote for them for personal reasons that's all. Whom ever is at the helm they had better keep the ship upright or suffer the wrath of the voters next time round!


relax 'BK".......'HH' has probably just finished an 8 sector run savin' da world & the 'red' was speaking for him:ok:


BTW..........totally off trk here I know but believe it it or not it's SNOWING here!...............was just watching the roos bounce across my front paddock with it snowing, ahhhh the joys of being rich & free !:)
CW:)

[Flyingblind]

Hmm.....not too sure HH, i think he has potential but the Party as a whole needs a rethink post you-know-who.

Hockey could be a contender but the current crowd of king makers and wanna-be's (the merchant banker that bought his seat comes to mind!) need to back off and give Joe his time.

However the Libs need this time to make some serious changes and address the forthcoming Labor party's shortcomings. Labor (like all other party's) will shoot themselves in the foot.

IMHO funding for the RFDS should be a Federal Government responsibility, why this hasn't happened yet beggars belief!:ugh:

[ZEEBEE]

//quote
IMHO funding for the RFDS should be a Federal Government responsibility, why this hasn't happened yet beggars belief! //end quote

Having been a victim of "state politics" at every turn, I'm of the opinion that EVERYTHING should be a Federal Govt responsibility.

Seven separate entities for 20 mill people is just crazy in this day and age. Might have been OK in 1900 with the comms they had then, but makes no sense in the 21st C

[Capt Wally]

'zeebee' quite true actually, well said. I agree, one country one govening body. But often simplicity itself is too simple!


CW

[SIUYA]

Lefthanded_Rock_Thrower...........

Well spoken! :D

[Pinky the pilot]

KRudd and Co will be here for at least the next two elections

Possibly so, but what really scares the bejaysus out of me are the words
Julia Gillard, Prime Minister.:eek::ugh:

Cannot anyone else hear the sound of knives being sharpened everytime the abovementioned Woman is pictured standing behind KRuddy??:confused:

Hockey could be a contender but the current crowd of king makers and wanna-be's (the merchant banker that bought his seat comes to mind!) need to back off and give Joe his time.


Malcolm Turnbull is completely driven by ambition to the point of ruthlessness. The Leadership of the Federal Liberal Party and eventually the Prime Ministership is all he thinks about. He may yet succeed.

You do not attain wealth and position such as he has without a certain ruthlessness, and I fear we will see evidence of such in the not too distant future.

FWIW, I loathe Turnbull. IMHO he would'nt know what the real world is like even if it kicked him hard between the big toes!

[Islander Jock]

I believe it would be a very brave person indeed who would bet anything on who will be a future prime minister of this country.

Some that are old enough to remember the Paul Hogan shows back in the 70s might recall a skit where Hogan as a futuristic tour guide referred to Bob Hawke as the then prime minister of Australia. :eek: The roar of laughter from the crowd was immense.

[Old Fella]

I doubt that too many, especially in the aviation fraternity, would be laughing now whenever they remember "By 1990, no child in Austrtalia will live in poverty" Mr Hawke.

[ZEEBEE]

Possibly so, but what really scares the bejaysus out of me are the words
Julia Gillard, Prime Minister

Helen Clarke reborn????

[bushy]

Our flying doctor service is a VERY VERY essential service for outback residents.
It is also a political tool used by governments to avoid providing the medical services the out back people need.
If you get a cancer scare in Darwin, you will need to travel 3000 km to Adelaide, or a similar distance to Brisbane to see the specialists. Or maybe Singapore would be more practical.
If you live in Alice Springs you only have to travel 1500 km to see a specialist.
There are insufficient medical facilities, and our governments boast about huge budget surplusses.
A state responsibility???? We are not a state, and it is impossible for the N.T, with 200,000 people spread over a large area to finance the facilities needed.
It should be renamed the Australian Flying Doctor Service. Let's stop pretending. It is run by australians, for australians, and financed by Australians.
The flying doctor service should not have to beg for funds from the public. And, if they are to have an AOC and tender for contracts, it does not seem fair to have tax concessions and public funding that give them a financial advantage over other tenderers. (the N.T. government has a list of "preferred tenderers")
To me, it looks like a great big rort that is used by governments to avoid the health care responsibilities that we pay them to do. Australia does not stop 300 miles from the coast, but facilities do. Australians should be ashamed.
Am I biassed?? Probably. I live in Alice Springs.
My wife died of cancer which was detected late, only after she went to Adelaide.
I flew aeroplanes for the Flying Doctor service for about 11 years. It is a VERY VERY essential service.

[ZEEBEE]

Our flying doctor service is a VERY VERY essential service for outback residents.

Well said Bushy...I couldn't agree more with all of your points. :D

It is scandalous in the extreme for our "Health Minister" to label them as a special interest group only, and only serves to show how out of touch are the politicians who live on the seaboard . := :*

[Pinky the pilot]

I believe it would be a very brave person indeed who would bet anything on who will be a future prime minister of this country.


Islander Jock; Point taken, but in this instance I am prepared to stick my neck out and I stand by my 'prediction.' If in the future I'm proved wrong I shall admit it. :ok:

Bushy; Hear hear!:ok:

ZEEBEE; No, far worse I fear!:mad:

[Torres]

"To me, it looks like a great big rort that is used by governments to avoid the health care responsibilities that we pay them to do."

Too true Bushy.

I too live in a rural town. The local State Government hospital uses the RFDS, particularly at night, to avoid their responsibility to adequately equip and staff the hospital to handle even minor emergencies!

[Lefthanded_Rock_Thrower]

Why is everyone beating up on Julia, I think she's a sexy beast :} Gggrrrr (http://bp3.blogger.com/_LxMXsmc0p5Q/RbGiBXfHD6I/AAAAAAAAAGg/WIUAOh1ntQY/s1600-h/jjulia+gillard+poligoth.jpg)

[Capt Wally]

damn you 'LRT' you just ruined my pending nights sleep here with that pix of the 'barren' woman:bored:


CW

[Jamair]

Torres too true mate, and when they can't they dump it on the ambulance service to drive the 8 hours return trip to the regional centre, leaving the entire area without ambulance cover. I guess if the Govts idea of wages and incentives can't attract staff to large metro and regional centres, there's no chance of attracting staff to smaller locales.:ugh:

How you bin bloke?:)

[bushy]

And our governments boast about having huge unspent sums of money. Our money that they will not spend on the things we desperately need. Both governments do it.
The coast is a different country.

[pw1340]

Any Government that has that big of a surplus isn't doing its job. Sure there should be some money put away for a 'rainy day' i.e. national disaster or international aid etc. but with health, education, roads(particullarly rural), and basically all other infrastructure in the state they are in there is no good reason to have all this money sitting there. It seems to me that these surplus' are being used to buy re-election by promising big sums of money to areas that attract the most media attention before an election. This in itself seems to be a big part of the problem.

Hypothetical scenario:
1. $2b allocated to mental health. How should we spend that?
Let's set up a commitee of 'experts' to best work that out.

2. Where do we put this commitee?
Let's build a new state of the art mental health commitee building with all the latest in computers and communications, better than anything else in the world, we will show everyone that we are leaders in mental health.

3. What has the commitee decided?
We need a new level of middle management to better run mental health.

4. Where will we put this new middle management?
see point 2 substituting commitee for management

5. What has managment decided?
We need more computers, phones and faxes.

6. What about mental health Doctors, Nurses, beds facilities?
Sorry theres not enough money left in the kitty for those incidentals but hey, the new management facilities are spot on!:ugh::ugh::ugh:


It's just false economy. We all know that preventative maintenance is far more effective than just waiting 'till it breaks then putting a bandaid on it!

[Torres]

G'Day Jamair. Hardly a night I don't hear the Doc's King Air go over my house. I am told the local hospital is now whistling up the Docs aircraft for injuries as minor as a simple arm fracture, rather than calling in an on call doctor. And despite the numerous rural health centers and hospitals, the Ambo's Merc Vans are now about as common on the highway, as Road Trains!

Don't start me on the currently proposed Budget Surplus!! :mad: Budget Surpluses have been very smart strategy over the past decade to amortise national debt and build the country's essential reserves, particularly for the liability of unfunded future expenses such as politician and public service superannuation.

However the currently proposed "mine is bigger than yours" $21 Bn surplus is being achieved through even higher taxes on "working families" and further reducing Government services, particularly in the essential areas of health, education and welfare.

If my maths calculations are correct, a $21 Bn budget surplus represents an average additional tax of $2,625 per person for every one of Australia's eight million workers!

No wonder the retirees are demonstrating! Age pensions for those that require them are now below the poverty level and self funded retirees are being slugged with further taxes on their megre investments. Hardly fair by our society when those same retirees have worked and paid their taxes for maybe fifty years, only to spend their twilight years in poverty.

This post is not about politics, but an ever increasing tendency for politicians of all flavours to further stick their snout into the income and lives of working Australians and small business, whilst progressively reducing the services they provide to Australian famililies. How arrogent of any Government to think they can manage my personal affairs better than I can! :yuk:

I hope we see more input into the currently proposed Budget by all Australians and some rationalisation in the Upper House before the Budget becomes law.

[tinpis]

Hardly a night I don't hear the Doc's King Air go over my house.

Would this be above the sound of banjoes? http://www.augk18.dsl.pipex.com/Smileys/laughpound.gif



Upper House

Cant KRudd just wait until August Torres? :uhoh:

[Torres]

And who will pay the Public Servants from July 1 to August, if there no Appropriation Bill approved by the Senate?

Another Prime Minister tried the same thing in 1976, you may recall........

I think the Prime Minister suggested that by granting the ATO and Centerlink access to the bank accounts of every Australian, the Commonwealth may save $300 million on "welfare cheats".

My guestimate that amounts to 20,000 to 30,000 "welfare cheats" - or 0.1% of the population?

As a result, 100% of the population will now have their private financial records available for scrutiny, without their consent. And how many additional public servants and at what additional cost, to recover perhaps $300 million?

Big Brother is watching! The Australia Card all over again, this time by stealth! :yuk:

Don't lie, cheat or steal - the Government doesn't like competition! :=

[Stationair8]

Kev07 reckons if you live in Dubbo then you would have to be a National Party or Liberal voter so therefore you can go and get rooted, better spending his surplus in some Labor electorate or another 2020 Wankfest.