http://www.theage.com.au/environment/brumby-in-cash-plea-for-polluters-20091022-hbf9.html

Senior Federal Government sources told The Age that Premier John Brumby had this year become "the leading advocate" for more compensation for coal-fired plants.

An industry consultant agreed, saying: "I think Brumby and a couple of his ministers do more lobbying than the industry."

The bullshit is reaching new heights now. Brumby looks more and more desperate as time goes on.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26297119-5006785,00.html

A POLITICAL brawl on donations has broken out, with Victorian Premier John Brumby breaking ranks with the federal Labor Party and the Rudd government by slamming the commonwealth's move to ban political donations.

Mr Brumby said banning donations breached the right of individuals and companies to support political causes and would unfairly burden the taxpayer with the cost of electioneering.

"I have always supported people's democratic rights to donate to political parties," he said.

Mr Brumby, who posted a strong 14-point lead in yesterday's Newspoll with a vote of 57-43 after preferences, declined to comment on the latest figures.



"That's a matter for the Government" he said

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26306837-5006785,00.html

VICTORIAN Premier John Brumby will outline a new five-point "productivity plan" for the nation at a major conference today.

"Maintaining a competitive edge today requires us to look to tomorrow and to look beyond state borders," he says in the speech, to be delivered at The Road to Recovery conference, presented jointly by the Melbourne Institute and The Australian in Melbourne today.

Ha haaaa... HA HAAAA!!!!!!!!

Today Victoria - tomorrow the world wrote:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26306837-5006785,00.html

VICTORIAN Premier John Brumby will outline a new five-point "productivity plan" for the nation at a major conference today.

"Maintaining a competitive edge today requires us to look to tomorrow and to look beyond state borders," he says in the speech, to be delivered at The Road to Recovery conference, presented jointly by the Melbourne Institute and The Australian in Melbourne today.

Ha haaaa... HA HAAAA!!!!!!!!



JB sees the world through an economic development lens with scant regard for the environmental and social impacts.

Dear John

The Melbourne we know isnt very liveable these days.

Get out here to Sunshine.

Get your your rose coloured glasses off and see for yourself Brumby you chameleon.

We have been neglected long enough and we are not going to take it any longer.
http://www.theage.com.au/national/two-leaders-two-views-one-election-and-a-year-to-go-20091105-i08c.html

Two leaders, two views, one election and a year to goNovember 6, 2009
NEXT year's state election campaign will be a tale of two Melbournes.

John Brumby wants us to enjoy and celebrate the capital as Australia's most loveable city.

But Ted Baillieu says it is a city of fear and sleaze, and wants voters to believe only he can rescue it from the thugs and spivs.

One year out from the November 2010 poll, the Premier and Opposition Leader yesterday staked out Battleground Melbourne. Their vastly different narratives each contains political dangers.

For Mr Brumby, the risk is that he will be seen as Pollyanna by Melburnians ever more frustrated by congestion on the roads and trains, and fearful of drunken violence on the streets. For Mr Baillieu, the danger is that he will be regarded as a killjoy, always talking down the town.

The Premier yesterday cited a new survey of 1200 people across the country to boast that Melbourne is Australia's favourite city. The Morgan research shows Melbourne beating Sydney and Brisbane on five key scores. It is rated the best city for major international sporting and cultural events; ''quality food experiences'' and world-class restaurants; interesting cafes, bars and nightclubs; shopping; and ''style and romance''.

''Our most liveable city is also our most loveable, with Melbourne racing ahead as Australia's first city for romance,'' Mr Brumby told an audience of national policymakers at Melbourne University. ''It is a renaissance that echoes the days of Marvellous Melbourne [a moniker the city gained during the boomtime 1880s].''

Victorians should take pride in having built such a special city, the Premier said, and ''we shouldn't be afraid to sell it to the world''.

''I want to see Australians celebrating Melbourne's world-leading liveability in the same way we have trumpeted the natural beauty of Sydney's harbour in the past,'' he said.

Three hours later, at Liberal Party headquarters in Exhibition Street, Mr Baillieu was telling a starkly different tale.

In announcing a shadow cabinet reshuffle that puts increased focus on law and order, the Opposition Leader talked about the urgent need to reclaim the streets from alcohol-fuelled thugs.

A culture of violent crime was ''destroying the reputation of our city'', Mr Baillieu said.

''It's all very well to have the cappuccino culture, but we need to have a safe, secure environment,'' he said.

''Melbourne is a great city, but Melburnians understand now that it's coming at far too high a price.

''You've only got to talk to people in the suburbs - people who don't want to travel into the city at night.''

On a recent trip to India, a tertiary student had told the Opposition Leader: ''I'm going to London to further my studies, because Melbourne isn't safe.''

''Victorians are sick and tired of waking up on a Monday morning and reading about who got bashed and who got killed at the weekend,'' Mr Baillieu said.

Someone has got Melbourne wrong. The 2010 election result may well hinge on whether it is Brumby or Baillieu

Tale of Two Melbournes wrote:
http://www.theage.com.au/national/two-leaders-two-views-one-election-and-a-year-to-go-20091105-i08c.html

It is rated the best city for major international sporting and cultural events; "quality food experiences" and world-class restaurants; interesting cafes, bars and nightclubs; shopping; and "style and romance".


This is like something out of a "women's weekly" magazine isn't it? Absolute bullshit spin. Remember it takes a ministerial spin doctoring staff of over 40 people to trot out this crap.

Oooh! I LOVE to go SHOPPING, especially with "style and romance", and those quality food experiences are to DIE FOR. Afterwards I LOVE visiting all the "interesting cafes", without which Melbourne would be, well, MUCH LESS LIVABLE. And the bars and nightclubs SILLY ME if only I could remember what goes on there.

Oh, Marvellous Melbourne!!

About the only decent thing about this piece of crap is that they mentioned www.marvellousmelbourne.org

What bullshit is this? wrote:
Tale of Two Melbournes wrote:
http://www.theage.com.au/national/two-leaders-two-views-one-election-and-a-year-to-go-20091105-i08c.html

It is rated the best city for major international sporting and cultural events; "quality food experiences" and world-class restaurants; interesting cafes, bars and nightclubs; shopping; and "style and romance".


This is like something out of a "women's weekly" magazine isn't it? Absolute bullshit spin. Remember it takes a ministerial spin doctoring staff of over 40 people to trot out this crap.

Oooh! I LOVE to go SHOPPING, especially with "style and romance", and those quality food experiences are to DIE FOR. Afterwards I LOVE visiting all the "interesting cafes", without which Melbourne would be, well, MUCH LESS LIVABLE. And the bars and nightclubs SILLY ME if only I could remember what goes on there.

Oh, Marvellous Melbourne!!

About the only decent thing about this piece of crap is that they mentioned www.marvellousmelbourne.org

Well I don't suppose that the following would cut it would it:

'Marvellous Melbourne where train tracks buckle in the heat preventing the running of an already very strained transport system, where as a tourist you take your chances being bashed and robbed down around the the glizy but crime ridden Casino. Marvellous Melbourne a card skimmers paradise, and where drunks piss and vomit in full view of everyone. Take the Underbelly Tour through Brunswick & Carlton; mind the bodies as you go though.

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/baillieu-finally-builds-head-of-steam-with-rail-safety-policy-20091111-i9y2.html

Baillieu finally builds head of steam with rail safety policy

November 12, 2009



It is too early to suggest that Ted Baillieu - languishing in the polls and still not absolutely secure in his job - is on a roll. But one year out from the state election, there are signs of momentum for the Opposition Leader.

The past few weeks have been among the best of Baillieu's 3½-year tenure in the worst job in Victorian politics. On Sunday he announced a clever policy on train safety that gained widespread applause and caught Labor flatfooted. Last Thursday he announced a shadow cabinet reshuffle which, while minimalist, made one strategic change - the elevation of Nationals leader Peter Ryan to the front-line post of police spokesman - that bolsters the Coalition's firepower and has Labor realists on edge.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/brumby-commits-to-probe-on-jail-drugs-20091117-ikcp.html

Mr Brumby said yesterday's report in The Age of a recent rise in drug overdoses among inmates and a sex scandal involving prison officials was "a matter of major concern" to Corrections Minister Bob Cameron who, the Premier said, had requested a "full and detailed report" into the incidents.

The State Opposition described conditions at the prison as approaching Third-World levels and accused the Government of failing to act on repeated warnings about overcrowding and poor security procedures.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/violence-stance-may-hit-citys-standing-20091119-ioxt.html

A HEAVY-HANDED approach to fighting city violence could damage Melbourne's reputation as a high-class place to visit and shop, a report released by the State Government and Melbourne City Council warns.

Premier John Brumby said hundreds of extra police on foot, horseback, bikes, in patrol vehicles and with dog squads would form "part of the high-visibility operation" in the city and other parts of the state.

Hand it Labor's department of Spin Doctors

http://www.theage.com.au/national/brumby-soaring-high-poll-20091121-is7p.html

LABOR'S dominance of Victorian politics appears unassailable one year from the next state election, with an exclusive opinion poll showing the Government could pick up another seven seats, decimating the Opposition.

His Government is more popular than it was in a similar poll taken one year ago and more popular than his predecessor's, Steve Bracks, at the 2006 election.



But a spokeswoman for Mr Baillieu rejected the poll, saying she could not remember the last time a Victorian Saulwick election poll had been accurate.

Huh? wrote:
http://www.theage.com.au/national/violence-stance-may-hit-citys-standing-20091119-ioxt.html

A HEAVY-HANDED approach to fighting city violence could damage Melbourne's reputation as a high-class place to visit and shop, a report released by the State Government and Melbourne City Council warns.WhatPremier John Brumby said hundreds of extra police on foot, horseback, bikes, in patrol vehicles and with dog squads would form "part of the high-visibility operation" in the city and other parts of the state.I wonder what type of city Melbourne has turned into
The last time that i had planned a holiday
to Melbourne and did not come over was when the underbelly killings started
Now the state govt are going to send out storm troopers into the streets
What has happend to this city

But a spokeswoman for Mr Baillieu rejected the poll, saying she could not remember the last time a Victorian Saulwick election poll had been accurate.

Oh what a genius of a response!

Sorry Ted, but you and your party look like your going to be absolutely belted in next year's poll.

Ted's dead wrote:

Sorry Ted, but you and your party look like your going to be absolutely belted in next year's poll.

A pathetic Government and an even more pathetic opposition.

What hope do we have?

Amazing attempt to discredit the policy by Brumby by suggesting that Protective Service Officers won't have arrest powers. Bloody ticket inspectors have the power to 'detain' a suspected fare evader or someone being 'unruly' for that read anyone who dares step in to assist another commuter against heavy handed thugs in uniforms. What is the power to 'detain'? I would call any deprivation of liberty where you cannot leave an arrest wouldn't you? I see Brumby shut up real quick on this issue.

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/baillieu-has-a-year-and-a-day-to-convince-voters-hes-the-man-20091125-jrp5.html

Baillieu recalled that as opposition leader in the 1990s, Brumby had campaigned against what Labor claimed was an assault on democracy by Kennett's Liberals. Yet on gaining office, Baillieu argued, Brumby had developed amnesia. He's got a point.

In opposition, Brumby had promised to "put an end to the use of the public purse for inappropriate political advertising". No one who watches commercial TV could miss the repeated breaking of that promise.

Brumby had promised "a strict code of conduct" for ministers. But after 10 years in Government, there is still no code.

Brumby in opposition said the standing orders of Parliament should be changed to "make ministers answer questions directly". Yet after 10 years of Labor in office, the Speaker has reaffirmed that "there is nothing in the standing orders that requires [a minister] to answer the question".

When John Brumby opens his mouth you know you're in for a pile of bullshit.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/rail-woes-mount-for-metro-20091201-k3vl.html

Opposition transport spokesman Terry Mulder demanded that Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky step down. "Lynne Kosky simply doesn't have the empathy to run public transport and the community is suffering as a result," he said.

He also pointed to Premier John Brumby's pledge to Parliament on September 1 that "passengers will notice changes from day one". Mr Brumby said on Monday that train travellers were "not going to see changes overnight"

So much for Brumby's so-called lead in the polls. Another example of his rolled-gold bullshit.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/brumby-cans-coal-projects-20091209-kk21.html

THE Brumby Government has shelved its controversial plans to allow the mining and export of Victorian brown coal to India, amid fears of a voter backlash.

In November Premier John Brumby was embarrassed by revelations in The Age that Exergen had paid for an exclusive meeting with him while its proposal was before the Government.

Mr Blood, who paid $10,000 to sit next to Mr Brumby at an ALP fund-raising dinner in October, has proposed a $2 billion scheme to turn coal into fertiliser. He said the Government's new approach appeared to be "political".

Education Minister Bronwyn Pike and Housing Minister Richard Wynne, who both face a growing green vote in their inner-suburban electorates, are believed to be among those cabinet members to have shown interest in the issue recently.

Look like that stimulus package has really worked. Victoria shows the strongest jobs growth too.

Economists hail 'extraordinary' job surge

Australia's unemployment rate has fallen to 5.7 per cent, after the creation of 31,200 jobs in November.

Even better news was that full-time jobs made up most of the increase, with the Bureau of Statistics survey showing 30,800 full-time positions created, seasonally adjusted.

The rise in full-time employment also pushed the ABS measure of hours worked 0.9 per cent higher, after previous weakness when employers were cutting workers' hours rather than jobs.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/12/10/2767456.htm

Economists were, on average, expecting only 5,000 jobs to have been created during November, after an increase of more than 24,000 the previous month.

The consensus forecast was for the jobless rate to creep higher from 5.8 to 5.9 per cent, with expectations of a rising population outpacing job creation.


Unemployment peak

The result shocked economists, with even the two most optimistic analysts only forecasting the creation of 20,000 jobs.

"They really are extraordinarily good numbers. A big rise in the total number of jobs, they're all full-time jobs as well, and they're really spread right around Australia," Macquarie's senior economist, Brian Redican, told ABC News.

"I probably think the unemployment rate will peak below 6 per cent, so we probably already have seen the peak for the unemployment rate now."

The Australian dollar surged about half a US cent on the news to 91.63 US cents, as currency traders upped their expectations of further interest rate rises in response to this latest sign of economic recovery.

Adam Carr, a senior economist at ICAP, agrees the prospects for another rate hike in February have been strengthened by the fall in unemployment.

"In terms of the implications for the policy, I would say, despite commercial banks lifting rates in excess of the RBA, today's magnificent employment results keep February very much alive," he told Reuters.

"Still a long way to travel, but the RBA certainly won't be ruling out another 25 basis point hike in the February meeting."


State by state

The two largest states led the rise in employment, with Victoria responsible for the strongest jobs growth of about 24,000 positions and an even stronger rise in full-time work.

Its unemployment rate has fallen from a peak of 6.2 per cent in August to 5.4 per cent in November, while New South Wales also recorded a fall in unemployment from 6.1 per cent in October to 6 per cent in November.

New South Wales has now handed the dubious mantle of the highest state unemployment rate to Queensland (6.1 per cent), although the rate of joblessness also crept up slightly in South Australia and Western Australia last month.

Unemployment remained steady in Tasmania and in the ACT, while the Northern Territory recorded a small fall in the jobless rate.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/excuses-yes-but-report-card-stern-on-brumby-20091212-kpps.html

ALMOST half of Premier John Brumby's major policy aims for 2009 have not been delivered

A statement on integrated, or affordable, housing was not delivered in 2009, despite being flagged in 2006.

The Government named the "respect" strategy as a key priority in 2009 but failed to release a policy document outlining its agenda.

Ted Baillieu said the Labor Government had become old and tired. "It is increasingly taking Victorians for granted. Promises are not kept and replaced with endless excuses," he said.