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Despite her obvious limitations she'll go down as the nobody who led the ALP to an impossible win in her first opportunity.
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@ACT-Crusader said in Aussie Politics:
If Miles gets it, things will be even worse and some will be calling for Palaszczuk to come back!
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Queenslandâs Paradise Dam, built by the Beattie Labor government less than 20 years ago to irrigate one of Australiaâs most productive food bowls, will be abandoned and replaced with a new dam because construction defects are so bad.
After more than four years of work on a $1.2bn joint state-federal government repair of the 300,000 megalitre dam, near Bundaberg, new tests show that concrete in the once-52m high wall is so degraded it will be a Âfuture safety risk to the local population.
The dam, opened in 2006 and constructed under a then-lauded private public partnership set-up by the state government, was found to be riddled with design and structural problems in 2019.
The wall was lowered by 5m for the repair, cutting its original storage capacity to 42 per cent, amid fears it could break apart if the dam was filled in an extreme weather event.
But now testing by the dam operator, state-owned SunWater, has found that the âexisting dam wall has too many issues to be repairedââ.
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@MajorRage said in Aussie Politics:
Engineers that live in that region have a lot to answer for .....
Dunno what you mean...
Had a very peripheral involvement when we looked after the restoration works post 2013. Staff member did some inspections. IIRC something to do with the inlet works, or pump station maybe? Nothing to do with the dam. Thankfully.
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@booboo said in Aussie Politics:
@MajorRage said in Aussie Politics:
Engineers that live in that region have a lot to answer for .....
Dunno what you mean...
Had a very peripheral involvement when we looked after the restoration works post 2013. Staff member did some inspections. IIRC something to do with the inlet works, or pump station maybe? Nothing to do with the dam. Thankfully.
The amount of people who will be saying exactly this...
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@mariner4life said in Aussie Politics:
@booboo said in Aussie Politics:
@MajorRage said in Aussie Politics:
Engineers that live in that region have a lot to answer for .....
Dunno what you mean...
Had a very peripheral involvement when we looked after the restoration works post 2013. Staff member did some inspections. IIRC something to do with the inlet works, or pump station maybe? Nothing to do with the dam. Thankfully.
The amount of people who will be saying exactly this...
I will admit to having been there maybe twice ...
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@MajorRage said in Aussie Politics:
Engineers that live in that region have a lot to answer for .....
Dam Engineering is hyper safety focussed, with rigorous peer review. It's international as well. They are bloody hard to get 'right' - so I am very surprised that this one has gone as poorly as it sounds like it has.
Interesting update - will google a bit and see what I can find out
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Senator Gallagher said in her National Press Club address.
âWeâll use the Workplace Gender Equality reporting framework to make it a rule that, in order to win government work, businesses with 500 or more employees must commit to targets to improve gender equality in their workplaces. These targets will focus on the gender makeup of their boards and the workforce; equal pay; flexible working arrangements; workplace consultation on gender equality; and efforts to prevent and address sexual harassment.â -
@antipodean đ¤Śââď¸
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could go in any number of threads, but yesterday's announcements in Qld seemed more political than anything
Anna Palachook brought the 2032 Olympics to Brisbane, giving herself an enormous pat on the back in the process. She then quit, and left the wildly unremarkable Stephen Miles to take the electoral fall for all the shit Anna put Queenslanders through.
By-elections have gone poorly, and it's looking for all the world like change is coming this year (of course I'll believe it when i see it, Queenslanders love a labor State government).
So yesterday Stephen Miles announced enormous changes to the stadium plans for the Olympics. The first plan was a knock down and rebuild of the 'gabba. A $500m review then recommended building a completely new oval stadium at another location.
Labor came out yesterday and said "something something cost of living" and went off in another direction. No new stadium. Instead a temporary facility at the "dilapidated" Qld Sport & Athletic Centre (yeah, I've never heard of it either). It'll be small by modern olympic standards, and then reduced to a very small capacity later. Opening and closing ceremonies will be at Suncorp.I am sort of torn by this. On one hand, spending billions on massive stadiums for one-off events is fucking stupid. On the other hand, you fucking bid for it, obviously made some promises about facilities, follow through. One the back of Dan dumping the Commonwealth Games, this isn't going to provide international committees faith in Aus state governments to actually put on international events.
In addition, it's widely accepted the 'gabba is coming to the end of its life, and will need a serious upgrade in the not too distant future. It is already falling behind the other stadiums around Australia and costing the state events. This was the perfect opportunity to future-proof the event tourism of the state, and the government blinked.And why? it's very hard to ignore the opinion that it is a politically motivated announcement that enables a "we care about how we spend your money in this current Cost Of Living Crisis. Please do not vote us out this year. It's so shameless i can easily foresee a backflip if they win the election.
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oh, and the kicker is, there's a rumour that the Qld Government already investigated what it would cost to rissole the Games entirely.
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i saw that on the news this morning, big headline, "BREAKING NEWS: QLD government discussed ditching the games as recently as this week"
i was like....good? shouldn't governments be continuously reviewing how they spend their money? in this case the loss of federal funding plus the fee they would have to pay the olympics (and i assume bad press/loss on income) out weighed what they would save ditching them...but good, just check
but now they have confirmed...get on with doing the best job you can. im not adverse to them upgrading the track and building temp stands at QSAC if thats where athletics will be held in the future...then they get the most out of an olympic quality track...but make the most of the opportunity and upgrade/rebuild the gabba for the ceremonies and i assume the 7's/football etc
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@antipodean we have that all the time
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Nailed it Mariner - more than happy to swan around Europe and soak up the plaudits when the announcement was made, but it's not so easy now the chickens are coming home to roost.
Miles now standing behind John Coates, who was happy with the option they ran with. The IOC are fixated on not being seen to force Governments into constructing white elephant facilities (burned by multiple examples of disused stadiums in Rio, Athens etc).
But what the IOC don't take into account is that a new oval stadium would be far from a white elephant, and receive year round use from cricket, AFL, concerts. So their perspective isn't entirely valid here.
Hard to believe the Olympics are going from Tokyo, to Paris, to LA to... Brisbane doing it on the cheap. What an embarrassment it's going to be.
Ultimately the Olympics is for grown-up world cities. It never fit in Brisbane and the actions of Miles only shows why.
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@mariner4life said in Aussie Politics:
could go in any number of threads, but yesterday's announcements in Qld seemed more political than anything
Anna Palachook brought the 2032 Olympics to Brisbane, giving herself an enormous pat on the back in the process.
The ego to have even bid after all the teething problems getting the bare minimum of infrastructure into Brisbane this century.
In addition, it's widely accepted the 'gabba is coming to the end of its life, and will need a serious upgrade in the not too distant future. It is already falling behind the other stadiums around Australia and costing the state events. This was the perfect opportunity to future-proof the event tourism of the state, and the government blinked.
Most of the new venues were deluded, wishful thinking. Once costed for the public (knowing they'd blow out by >100%), the realisation that coal royalties wouldn't double overnight to pay for it must have been sobering.
That said, the Gabba transformation would've been ideal. But now it looks like they're trying to do the Olympics on a Commonwealth Games budget.
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Grace Grace the development and infrastructure minister said the quiet part out loud surely by accident
Qld will still need a new oval stadium by 2032 "but that will be a future government's problem"
Fuck me dead
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@mariner4life said in Aussie Politics:
"but that will be a future government's problem"
Modern politics, ladies and gentlemen...
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Here is the solution
âGive it to Sydneyâ: Swimming great warns Brisbane not ready for Olympics
EXCLUSIVE
By LYDIA LYNCHAustralian swimming champion Tracey Wickham says Brisbane should hand Sydney the hosting rights of the 2032 Olympics after a shambolic three years of planning.
Queensland Premier Steven Miles this week axed the controversial Gabba rebuild and rejected a proposed new $3.4bn stadium at Victoria Park, instead announcing the ageing Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre at Nathan would host track and field events for Australiaâs third Olympics, even though itâs not on a train line and might seat only 40,000 people.
Mr Milesâ cabinet endorsed the QSAC option on Monday without a transport plan or business case, although an independent review costed upgrades at $1.6bn.
Wickham, who competed at the 1976 Montreal Olympics as a 13-year-old and went on to set world records for both the 800m and 400m freestyle, said Brisbaneâs Olympic organisers had âmissed the boatâ on infrastructure planning and were now at risk of embarrassing Australia on the world stage.
âLetâs just bite the bullet and give it to Sydney, theyâve done it before, theyâve got everything there and they have proven themselves before,â she told The Australian.
âWe just donât have the facilities ready, and itâs not just the Âactual stadiums itâs all of the road infrastructure and the transport logistics.
âI just donât want Australians to be made a fool of and we will be, people will talk about it forever. The legacy will be âAustralia is Âpatheticâ if we try to handle this without being ready.â
Wickham, a Brisbane local, said the Games had the potential to deliver huge benefits to the city. âBut I just think weâre running out of time and we are not ready,â she added.
âThereâs too much in-house fighting and discussions â should we do this? No we will do this, Should we pull (the Gabba) down? No we wonât â it should all be sorted by now. If they are going to do it, frigginâ do it, but they have been bickering for three years and I think they have missed the boat.â
Wickhamâs comments come after NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey this week suggested Sydney would be ready to take over hosting rights.
âOur record is unmatched and weâve set a very high standard for Queensland to reach,â he said.
âIf they canât do it, they should give me a call.â
Four-time Olympian Cate Campbell also added her voice to criticism of Mr Milesâ Olympic venue plan this week, Âaccusing his government of allowing its re-election prospects to get in the way of progress.
In parliament on Thursday, Mr Miles said the independent infrastructure overÂsight body would be established by mid year but would not have powers to make âimportant budgetary decisionsâ.
âIt is the end of the sitting week and still the leader of the opposition has no answer, no decision and no response,â he said. âOn this side we have been crystal clear. We will deliver the best Games ever, but we will do it in our existing venues and the Brisbane Arena, and we will do it within the existing funding envelope.â
Opposition Leader David Crisafulli has not declared a position on the Olympic venue plan, saying he would let an infrastructure agency make decisions, leaving the door open for another stadium overhaul if the LNP wins government at Octoberâs state election.
Mr Crisafulli has said he will not take a venue plan to the election, but pledged the oversight agency would deliver a plan Âwithin 100 days.
Under his terms of reference, the authority would have to prioritise road and rail infrastructure, use existing venues, not exceed the current $7bn funding envelope and present legacy opportunities for the entire state.
âI am giving Queenslanders a pathway to fix the mess,â he said.
âWe do have time.â
LYDIA LYNCH
Aussie Politics