Here we go everyone. PRIVATISE! PRIVATISE! PRIVATISE!

http://www.theage.com.au/national/stakes-rise-as-role-of-power-lines-shifts-to-fore-20091017-h26s.html

Five fires - half the total - were started by electricity lines. The commission has looked at four - Coleraine, Horsham, Pomborneit and Beechworth - and raised serious questions about the safety of the infrastructure and the regularity of inspections. But the main event will come next month, when the cause of the deadly Kilmore East-Kinglake fire will be examined.

Much is at stake for SP AusNet. A legal class action has been launched, and will be fought after the commission completes its hearings. Perhaps as a result of this, in the lead-up to the royal commission hearing, the company has been entirely defensive about the role of its power lines on Black Saturday.

We can see the State Labor government has left the people of Victoria up shit creek without a paddle once again.

Good work boys!
http://www.theage.com.au/national/russian-offer-of-fire-jets-rejected-20091020-h6xt.html

AS BUSHFIRES consumed Victorian lives, forests, homes and townships in February, the Russian Government offered to send two of the world's biggest and most advanced waterbombers to the battle.

Each of the giant Ilyushin-76 jets could drop in a single pass 42,000 litres of water or retardant on a fire - almost five times the maximum capacity of the ''Elvis'' skycrane helicopters.

However, the offer, which came from the highest levels of the Government of the Russian Federation, was rejected, according to the Russian embassy in Canberra.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/us-water-plane-order-cancelled-20091021-h91c.html

AN AMERICAN DC-10 water-carrying plane ordered for last summer's fire season, and which would have saved lives, was cancelled at the last moment, a union official says.

Mr Marshall said a submission went to cabinet that would have allowed the use of the plane, but it appeared it was rejected on budgetary grounds.

"It would have made a difference, especially down Traralgon way," he said.

Remember when Dick Smith reinvented the Dept of Civil Aviation to the concept of affordable safety? Guess it also applies to bushfire threats and all other emergency responses... Affordable safety.

Affordable safety wrote:
Remember when Dick Smith reinvented the Dept of Civil Aviation to the concept of affordable safety? Guess it also applies to bushfire threats and all other emergency responses... Affordable safety.

I think it is more of case of a 'If we deem you worthy of saving'policy. If you are a dickhead minister with no sense of direction you are clearly worthy of every aircraft we can muster to find you. If you are a Victorian in a fire prone area................you're on your own ok! It's a whole new take on 'let them eat cake'.

What do you expect when a government is made up of incompetents who owe their jobs to filthy branch stackers? Every one of them should be in jail.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/academics-predicted-black-saturday-bushfires-20100209-npqt.html

A REPORT that predicted Black Saturday with eerie accuracy and warned that emergency information and advice could fail to get through was virtually ignored by the Victorian government, its authors say.

The authors say most of their advice was echoed in "remarkably similar" recommendations in the 2009 Bushfires Royal Commission's interim report.

"It is concerning that our information about a theoretical situation that was almost identical to that which actually occurred on Black Saturday has been available for four years, but most of our practical recommendations have not been used," they wrote.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/special-reports/former-police-commissioner-christine-nixon-enjoyed-dinner-on-black-saturday-after-being-briefed-on-impending-disaster/story-fn4chuwg-1225850664127

CHRISTINE Nixon went home at 6pm on Black Saturday and then went out for dinner with friends after she was told of the likelihood of deaths in the bushfires.

Her exit from the control centre was about five minutes after she was briefed about the possibility of loss of life from what became the worst bushfires in the state's history.

MS Nixon did not speak to Premier John Brumby at all on Black Saturday.

SHE left an assistant commissioner to brief Police Minister Bob Cameron.

SHE did not consider declaring a state of disaster on the night of Black Saturday, despite the emerging numbers of deaths and loss of homes.

SHE did not request an updated briefing of the situation facing Victoria on returning to the Integrated Emergency Control Centre at 3pm, because "I didn't need to waste their time by getting another briefing."

SHE did not check whether adequate warnings were being given to towns lying in the path of the fires, because she had "assumed fire authorities had done so".

But Ms Nixon did admit she should have done better.

And Nero played the fiddle as Rome burned.What else is new?

Nixon has been shoe horned into that job as an incompetent. They put a fool in charge and get Black Saturday.

What elese needs to be said.

Nixon knew she was useless, she knew that she was just in the way, and the whole organisation is racked with nepotism. Let's go to lunch. There's not one of them there with any idea of what to do except take their fat pay cheques and cover up for their political masters.

When you put incompetent political fools in charge of important organisations, people die.

I think it's as simple as that.

Look what's happening in "child protection" with that shoehorned Labor goon in charge.

There is a pattern to this government, and it's called nepotism.

Is there a moderator on this site? (The rants on this site donot seem to be in anyway monitored, and removed when necessary) What does any of this have to do with what is happening on the ground in Brimbank? Beyond the fact that we have a Labour government and these people where appointed by same (I.e. Christine Nixon). Is this forum just an opportunity for anyone to have a rant about whatever is upsetting them on the day? What about sticking to local issues that have a bearing on what is happening in our local area to the Sunshine Rate Payers, as the name of the forum suggests.

Put your head back in the sand and forget about it.

Head in sand wrote:
[quote]Put your head back in the sand and forget about it.[/quote

Head in the sand in connection with what? I recently moved to the area and would like to be involved in local issues, as I have always been in other areas where I have lived. Which is why I find myself on this site, what I am asking is what this has got to do with the lack of facilities for kids, or around the pool opening times, or the high rise development on Harvester road, and this site I thought by its name was going to be about these local issues and how we as locals can be involved, not a rant aboutPut your head back in the sand and forget about it.[/quote

Head in the sand in connection with what? I recently moved to the area and would like to be involved in local issues, as I have always been in other areas where I have lived. Which is why I find myself on this site, what I am asking is what this has got to do with the lack of facilities for kids, or around the pool opening times, or the high rise development on Harvester road, and this site I thought by its name was going to be about these local issues and how we as locals can be involved, not a rant about what story is on the front page of the Herald Sun.

Read the threads and inform yourself so that we don't have to go over the same old ground again and again.

You want to read about facilities for kids?

http://www.sunshine.asn.au/component/option,com_fireboard/Itemid,71/func,view/id,1134243/catid,12/limit,20/limitstart,0/

or try this

http://www.sunshine.asn.au/component/option,com_fireboard/Itemid,0/func,view/id,1134007/catid,2/

or this

http://www.sunshine.asn.au/component/option,com_fireboard/Itemid,0/func,view/id,1133445/catid,6/limit,20/limitstart,0/

Want to read about the high rise development on Harvester road?

try this

http://www.sunshine.asn.au/component/option,com_fireboard/Itemid,0/func,view/id,1132352/catid,2/limit,20/limitstart,0/

http://www.sunshine.asn.au/component/option,com_fireboard/Itemid,0/func,view/id,1130826/catid,8/limit,20/limitstart,0/

Face up to your responsibility not to come barging in here and expecting everyone to fill you in what you should be finding out for yourself.

Go to the forum page and use the search function

http://www.sunshine.asn.au/component/option,com_fireboard/Itemid,0/

Find out what the state of play is, then offer some really useful comments.

Welcome!

ps. and stop hijacking the threads.

Resident wrote:
Is there a moderator on this site? (The rants on this site donot seem to be in anyway monitored, and removed when necessary) What does any of this have to do with what is happening on the ground in Brimbank? Beyond the fact that we have a Labour government and these people where appointed by same (I.e. Christine Nixon). Is this forum just an opportunity for anyone to have a rant about whatever is upsetting them on the day? What about sticking to local issues that have a bearing on what is happening in our local area to the Sunshine Rate Payers, as the name of the forum suggests.


"Is this forum just an opportunity for anyone to have a rant about whatever is upsetting them on the day?"

Yes!! We love to hear everyone's views on everything. It's an open forum pick any subject and let us know what you think!

Resident, I appreciate your frustrations but people who live in Sunshine have wide and varied interests. Some of the solutions to our local problems actually come from appropriate policy at State or Federal level. For instance, if the feds decide to 'grow' Australia through rapid migration all open space and even some neighbourhoods will be up for grabs for 'social housing', this will not help gain facilities for the kids. The rants are a sign of frustration with policies that hurt us not help us. As such, discussing these things is completely relevant. I must admit I dislike the personal belittlement of any posters view, but it's a free forum.

I, for one, am watching the bushfires saga unfold with interest. The State governments have forced all local government to have a disaster plan in place. Experience with our democratically elected previous Council showed they made policies they then ignored. That is, a disaster plan has not been publicly aired and is unlikely to be adequately funded.

What will happen if there's a major urban fire in Sunshine? Or, airplanes crash over the city - after all there is a plane every 2 minutes during peak hours? Or, there's a massive deluge which floods the city? Do you know who will respond or where the evacuation centres are likely to be? Do you know what to do if there's a toxic plume from the petroleum refineries in Altona? There are claims about radioactive waste at Ravenhall

That's the point of the diversity you read in these threads, not everyone is passionate at the same time about the same issue. While I know how aggravating off hand comments can be, there's still a lot to enjoy in a truly public forum. Never, be fobbed off from putting your view in.

Another voice wrote:



That's the point of the diversity you read in these threads, not everyone is passionate at the same time about the same issue. While I know how aggravating off hand comments can be, there's still a lot to enjoy in a truly public forum. Never, be fobbed off from putting your view in.


thanks Another voice I won't be put off, i just don't to have someone jump down my throat if i put a view different to someone else, always helpful if we keep discussions away from personal attacks.

Resident wrote:
Is there a moderator on this site? (The rants on this site donot seem to be in anyway monitored, and removed when necessary) What does any of this have to do with what is happening on the ground in Brimbank? Beyond the fact that we have a Labour government and these people where appointed by same (I.e. Christine Nixon). Is this forum just an opportunity for anyone to have a rant about whatever is upsetting them on the day? What about sticking to local issues that have a bearing on what is happening in our local area to the Sunshine Rate Payers, as the name of the forum suggests.

Our councils have all been labor dominated with interference from MPs, ministers and factional warlords.

The issues of accountability, leadership, responsibility, nepotism all have direct bearing on what happens in Sunshine.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/in-depth/victoria-bushfires/black-saturday-inquiry-shifts-focus-to-minister/story-e6frgd2f-1225851586131

CALLS are growing for Victorian Emergency Services Minister Bob Cameron to front the bushfire royal commission and explain why he did not get to the Integrated Emergency Control Centre until the night of Black Saturday.

Mr Cameron -- who under the law at the time was the co-ordinator-in-chief of the state's entire emergency response -- spent the day with his family at his Bendigo farm before arriving at the IECC about 7pm.

"Bob Cameron must front the royal commission to explain what happened with the lines of command and control on February 7," Mr Baillieu said.

Lackeys employed by crooks and run by nitwits.