The Abbott Government

Ijustnewit said:

I don't believe that will happen, this purely about tourism and jobs in a State that has the worst unemployment figures in Australia. And a State that has suffered greatly from the Labor / Green Government.
The days of forestry are dead and unless tourism takes over , we are stuffed.
From a personal perspective I was lucky enough to be part one of the very last tour groups to go through Cadbury before the work place health and safety shut them down. Apparently things like stairs , railings and floor surfaces were not up to new standards. Not unexpected for a site that has over 18 heritage listed buildings on site , the conching machines that are used to mix and break down the raw ingredients are pure granite and are the only ones in existence are over 60 years old and still in use today. Perhaps why when used with milk from the place on earth that has the purest air on the planet ( Nth West Tas ) that Tasmanian chocolate is one of the best going around. The Cadbury visitor centre is still open , but for interpretation tours only and to buy some cheap non saleable chocolate ( wrong weight or incorrect packaging ect ) .
Just not the same as going through the actual factory, as those who watched the upteempth repeat of Willy Wonka last night on television. It's every kids dream and turns adults and grown men into kids again
It may be hard to get where I'm coming from , but you have to be here on Island to appreciate what we have to offer tourist and really it's only chance . About one third of the last tourism Australia awards came from down here . It is happening , the Mona museum is now the number one destination for arty foody types from all over the world. It's put Hobart on the map , not a day goes past that I sit here watching fully laden high speed catamarans go back and forth every twenty minutes. Cadbury is perfectly located less than a kilometer from all this action , also the original Claremont golf course put there for Cadburys early work force is being totally redeveloped into a resort course and all the trimmings that would go with such a complex. The course is right there next to the factory and when playing golf there all you can smell the waft of fresh chocolate .
I can't wait for the upgrade to happen , I suggest you all watch a few episodes of the Gourmet Farmer on SBS get excited about Tasmania and come and visit . You might just like to wait till Tony dips his hand in pocket first if you want the Cadbury experience as well .

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I hope IFocus and Knobby read your post. It would appear they're not comparing apples with apples.lol

I'm not against it as I believe since I visited all the workers have been replaced by robots and it is hardly thrilling for the kids. I don't know the details of the deal but $16 mil seems a lot of money. Hopefully Cadbury are at least matching the sum because it is my money. But where does this suit with the philosophy the caucus is espousing?
As per the previous government, can we have an industry policy please? This rag tag of decisions based on seat of the pants reasoning is not the way to run the country.

I know Tassy is stuffed, but with the car industry and related suppliers all closing in Victoria is not going to be a pretty picture also. They should give the money they are getting from the findings that dumping occurred of tomato cans from Italy to SPC.

Knobby22 said:

I'm not against it as I believe since I visited all the workers have been replaced by robots and it is hardly thrilling for the kids. I don't know the details of the deal but $16 mil seems a lot of money. Hopefully Cadbury are at least matching the sum because it is my money. But where does this suit with the philosophy the caucus is espousing?
As per the previous government, can we have an industry policy please? This rag tag of decisions based on seat of the pants reasoning is not the way to run the country.

I know Tassy is stuffed, but with the car industry and related suppliers all closing in Victoria is not going to be a pretty picture also. They should give the money they are getting from the findings that dumping occurred of tomato cans from Italy to SPC.

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I think what ijustnewit was saying is the Tassie factory is closed down and is of historic significance. It sounds as though it is only being opened as a tourist venture, not a commercial enterprise.
I don't think many companies would pour money into a museum.

sptrawler said:

I think what ijustnewit was saying is the Tassie factory is closed down and is of historic significance. It sounds as though it is only being opened as a tourist venture, not a commercial enterprise.
I don't think many companies would pour money into a museum.

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The Cadbury factory is still fully functioning and Cadbury have no known plans to close it. Tasmanian climate and ingredients like the best milk make the chocolate exceptional. Actually they tried to change the formula a couple of years back by cutting down the Tassie milk and replacing it with high fat palm fats. Yuck !! This of course didn't work and their customers picked up on it and sales dropped. They quickly reinstated the original milk content.
It was the guided tour through the complex that ceased due to WPH&S. As for the robot workforce , yes like every working factory it has some robotic machinery. I can attest that being on one of the last ever tours that there were still plenty of oompa loompas on the job .
Yes the buildings and actually the whole grounds and surrounding houses are of historic value. I was lucky enough a few months ago to get a tour through one of the original managers residences , it was built in the late 1950's and is in original condition with interior fittings. The ultimate untouched retro pad and totally amazing !!! Something like that on the mainland would be long gone.
Anyways further to my point of reason is, that Boags and Cascade beers have also run tours through their factories and they are highly successful tourist ventures even though now they are mainly all auto run warehouses and very few staff are there to be seen. It's the vibe of it , the chance to smell the hops or coco beans and then try a few chocolates or beers at the end of tour.
It's like the historical Cascade beer factory (the one on the label) , you can see it from the road in South Hobart , but there is nothing like saying you've been inside . Especially as a tourist , the Cadbury factory is no different.
I can not answer the question about Cadbury kicking in some funds themselves ? As a taxpayer I would expect them to , but unless Tony kicks in his bit I believe that Cadbury would never reopen the facility alone .

Appologies, my mistake, I misunderstood and thought the factory was closed.

I must say the Cadbury's factory tour in Dunedin was popular, with the passengers from the cruise ship.

Thanks Ijustnewitt. Very interesting. Great read also. The beer factory peaked my interest.
Think it's about time my family visited Tassie. I haven't visited for 18 years.

Now that yet another Aussie car manufacturer, Toyota, has announced that it’s pulling out of Australia, Bill Shorten, (hereinafter referred to as ‘Buffoon Bill’) is yapping like a little puppy dog about how the Abbot government is anti-jobs and has been the death of the Australian car industry.
A bigger fool and hypocrite than Shorten would be hard to find – as ACTU boss, Buffoon Bill was party to putting in place the union-brokered workplace agreements that have forced Holden, Ford, and now Toyota out of business in this country.
The Rudd/Gillard Labor governments, of which Buffoon Bill was a senior member, threw hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayers money at the car industry but were unable to prevent the loss of hundreds of jobs each year and the continual decline of these industries.

Toyota has stated that it was primarily the unions that forced them out of Australia. And yet when Toyota attempted to bring about changes in workplace agreements that may have been able to return the company to profitability and keep them in Australia, they were blocked by a Labor lawyer.
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/the-labor-lawyer-and-the-death-seal-20131218-2zlca.html

Nobody will ever convince me that unions are there to help the workers. Even AWU boss Paul Howes admits that workers have priced themselves out of the market. As Howes can now see (it bloody well took him long enough!) you don’t help union members by destroying their jobs through workplace agreements that make companies unprofitable.
I don’t doubt that Buffon Bill can now see it as well, but unlike Paul Howes, Shorten doesn’t have the character to admit it. What a pathetic, grubby little fellow he is – no Australian with any common sense or responsibility will ever attempt to vote a Shorten-led government into power.

bunyip said:

Now that yet another Aussie car manufacturer, Toyota, has announced that it’s pulling out of Australia, Bill Shorten, (hereinafter referred to as ‘Buffoon Bill’) is yapping like a little puppy dog about how the Abbot government is anti-jobs and has been the death of the Australian car industry.
A bigger fool and hypocrite than Shorten would be hard to find – as ACTU boss, Buffoon Bill was party to putting in place the union-brokered workplace agreements that have forced Holden, Ford, and now Toyota out of business in this country.
The Rudd/Gillard Labor governments, of which Buffoon Bill was a senior member, threw hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayers money at the car industry but were unable to prevent the loss of hundreds of jobs each year and the continual decline of these industries.

Toyota has stated that it was primarily the unions that forced them out of Australia. And yet when Toyota attempted to bring about changes in workplace agreements that may have been able to return the company to profitability and keep them in Australia, they were blocked by a Labor lawyer.
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/the-labor-lawyer-and-the-death-seal-20131218-2zlca.html

Nobody will ever convince me that unions are there to help the workers. Even AWU boss Paul Howes admits that workers have priced themselves out of the market. As Howes can now see (it bloody well took him long enough!) you don’t help union members by destroying their jobs through workplace agreements that make companies unprofitable.
I don’t doubt that Buffon Bill can now see it as well, but unlike Paul Howes, Shorten doesn’t have the character to admit it. What a pathetic, grubby little fellow he is – no Australian with any common sense or responsibility will ever attempt to vote a Shorten-led government into power.

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+ 1.....Well put....I will drink to all you have stated......and I will say it again and again untill I am BLUE IN THE FACE......."THIS ALL STARTED BACK IN THE 50'S AND 60'S WITH THOSE COMMUNIST DOMINATED MILITANT UNIONS AND EMBRACED LATER ON BY RUDD/GILLARD/RUDD".

Can I read where Toyota is blaming the unions? At the moment it seems Hockey says it is the case and Toyota say it is multiple factors including exchange rates and scale. Seems the Coalition have 1 focus - unions and cannot think about any other reason for productivity and cost issues.

noco said:

"THIS ALL STARTED BACK IN THE 50'S AND 60'S WITH THOSE COMMUNIST DOMINATED MILITANT UNIONS AND EMBRACED LATER ON BY RUDD/GILLARD/RUDD".

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Yup!

Australia's manufacturing industry has been in decline for decades thanks to the communist run unions who have rejected all attempts at serious workplace reform to make us more competitive. They were allowed to thrive and prosper under gutless previous governments from both sides.

Remember those ludicrous "demarcation disputes" when two unions would bring production to a halt because they couldn't agree on which member was authorised to tighten a bolt?

Australian manufacturing has, for years, faced very stiff competition from overseas and the Howard government tried to introduce workplace reforms which might have made us more competitive and saved these industries, but the unions ran a scare campaign which the idiot half of the population fell for, and they voted for the softer option of Rudd.

Well, now they're paying the price! You can do workplace reform the easy way or the hard way. We're now going to be doing it the hard way. Unions are well and truly past their use-by date.

Our manufacturing sector has been crippled, our educational standards are declining, and we've done the easy options of gold mining, wheat, sheep, cattle, minerals, ... what's left? Tourism?

When a woman runs out of options to earn an income respectably, she often resorts to selling her "natural assets" and service customers. (The same goes for some men.)
When a nation runs out of options to earn an income respectably, it often resorts to selling its "natural assets" and service customers.

boofhead said:

Can I read where Toyota is blaming the unions? At the moment it seems Hockey says it is the case and Toyota say it is multiple factors including exchange rates and scale. Seems the Coalition have 1 focus - unions and cannot think about any other reason for productivity and cost issues.

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The media has put two and two together and come up with six.

Mr Hockey today said that Toyota Australia president Max Yasuda raised concerns with him about the generous conditions during a private conversation last year.

"They were very concerned about the conditions that existed at Toyota in Australia," he told Fairfax Media.

"[Mr Yasuda] warned it was proving to be very difficult to sustain the business with those sorts of conditions and I stood in Parliament actually and said quite bluntly that if the AMWU continued down this path, it would be very difficult for Toyota to stay in Australia."

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It makes for a more entertaining story I suppose.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-...conditions-workers-cars-manufacturing/5254334

In parliament today,

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/nat...or-plant-closure/story-fn59noo3-1226824530344

Which is it Tony??

Pre election you're claiming a Coalition Government will oversee an economy that creates 2 million jobs over a decade

Post election "..we can’t abandon the truth that governments don’t create jobs, businesses do"

Then we have the junk food industry somehow brow beating you into forcing a COAG and health group supported food star website to be taken off line. Surely someone who has a keen interest in fitness can see the health benefits for the general public of being able to easily gain information on the food they eat. Seems union pressure = bad, rent seeker pressure = good.

You're doing ya best to blame unions for all the ills in the economy, yet the productivity crushing high land prices in the country don't rate a mention, nor the tax system that skews hundreds of billions of dollars into non productive housing "investment" that sucks in massive amounts of foreign debt but doesn't create assets that can actually help pay for the debt. Hint - look to Texas to see how it's possible to manage high population growth, high income growth and stable real house prices.

You never mention how CEO pay has outstripped the pay rises that bad unions have negotiated, nor that any of their pay rises have NOT been through productivity gains. In fact, research has continually shown the highest paid CEOs are value destroying for the companies. Quite often the criteria for bonuses are changed, or made easier to be met. Is it any wonder than the average worker has built up a bit of resentment over this?

It's 15+ years of bad Government policies that have got us to where we are. As Toyota says, it's not a single issue, but the culmination of many that has got us on the path to another Banana Republic crisis.

I don’t know who wrote the following. I post it here for the interest of and discussion by the forum. Make of it what you will.

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ONLY $150 million a year to save Holden? Rubbish. The Holden Enterprise Agreement is the document that has utterly sunk Holden's prospects. It defies belief that someone in the company isn't being held to account for it.

Holden's management masks a union culture beyond most people's comprehension. Employment costs spiralled way beyond community standards long ago. Neither "pay freezes" nor more money could save Holden, but getting the Fair Work Commission to dissolve the agreement and put all workers on the award wage might have helped.

In 1991, the pre-enterprise bargaining award wage of a Holden entry level process worker was $462.80 a week. In 1992, Holden began enterprise bargaining and now a worker at that same classification level has a base rate of $1194.50 a week, a 158 per cent increase, or a compound increase of 4.4 per cent year on year for 22 years. Right now, base wage rates for process workers in the Holden enterprise agreement are in the $60,000 to $80,000 per year range and in recent times, "hardship payments" of $3750 were given to each worker.

The modern award for such workers mandates base rates in the $37,000 to $42,000 range. This means that before we add any of the shift penalties, loadings, 26 allowances and the added cost of productivity restrictions, Holden begins each working day paying its workforce almost double what it should. After you add in the other employment costs, I estimate Holden's workforce costs it somewhere close to triple the amount it should.

Many people who work at Holden don't actually work for Holden; they work for the union. Occupational health and safety people are given 10 days' paid time off a year to be trained by the union. Most companies do not allow unions to train their OH&S people because the knowledge is used to control the workplace to the benefit of the union.

Union delegates are also allowed up to 10 paid days a year for union training in how to be effective union delegates and two of these delegates are entitled to an extra Holden sponsorship of one paid month off to "further their industrial and/or leadership development".

Holden's rules on hiring casuals are shocking and unheard of in today's market. The agreement forbids Holden from hiring casuals except when a "short-term increase in workload, or other unusual circumstances occurs". If this situation arises Holden has to "consult and reach agreement" with the union. Further, "Engagement of the agreed number of casual personnel will be for the agreed specified tasks and the agreed specified periods." If any of this changes, Holden must get union agreement again. After three months of continuous full-time work a casual must be made permanent. It is impossible to run a business like this.

An ex-employee from Adelaide, on condition of anonymity, consented to an interview yesterday. He described the workforce as "over-managed", with one team leader for every six workers on the production line, when one for every 25 workers would suffice.

He said "some of us workers felt it wasn't necessary to get paid what we were getting paid to do the jobs we were doing", adding that their work is probably worth about "20 bucks an hour". A few years back, mates took redundancy packages in the order of "$280k plus". Workers are "like sheep" that blindly follow the union leadership. At induction, new workers are ushered into one-on-one meetings with the union rep who heavies them into joining. "It is made clear that if you don't join the union you will be sacked," he said. Union representatives "don't actually do any work for Holden", but rather make themselves full-time enforcers of union control.

He says workers are drug tested before hiring, but "only have to stay off it for a few weeks, get in the door and then you'll be right". Workers caught taking drugs or being drug-affected at work are allegedly put on a fully paid rehabilitation program, with special paid time off of about four weeks duration, before being let back into the workforce.

Australian workplaces have a zero tolerance for drug use, with instant dismissal the remedy, but at Holden "the union won't let the company sack" any workers caught dealing, taking or being on drugs. "If they did a random drug test tomorrow they'd probably have to sack 40 per cent of the workforce," he adds.

If the Holden scenario were playing out in a privately owned business, proper cost-cutting strategies would be used. If you have the will and can hire the skill, there are many ways to cut labour costs. The workers can be given a couple of years notice of significant wage drops and can receive lump sum payouts of entitlements to help bring down family debt.

Of course, these strategies are only ever used by business people who have no one else to bail them out. It seems Holden would rather leave the country than dissolve its enterprise agreement. The union thinks members are better off jobless than on award wages. Holden's fate is sealed.

When Holden does leave, workers will receive the most generous redundancy benefits around. Holden says leaving will cost $600m. Most of this will go to staff payouts. The fellow interviewed agrees with my calculation: the average production-line worker will walk away with a redundancy package of between $300k-500k.

bunyip said:

I don’t know who wrote the following.

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Grace Collier.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opi...l-holden-engine/story-fnkdypbm-1226779253154#

bunyip said:

I don’t know who wrote the following. I post it here for the interest of and discussion by the forum. Make of it what you will.

......................................................................................................................................................

He says workers are drug tested before hiring, but "only have to stay off it for a few weeks, get in the door and then you'll be right". Workers caught taking drugs or being drug-affected at work are allegedly put on a fully paid rehabilitation program, with special paid time off of about four weeks duration, before being let back into the workforce.

Australian workplaces have a zero tolerance for drug use, with instant dismissal the remedy, but at Holden "the union won't let the company sack" any workers caught dealing, taking or being on drugs. "If they did a random drug test tomorrow they'd probably have to sack 40 per cent of the workforce," he adds.

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The same could be said for the finance industry. Drug abuse isn't restricted to car manufacturing. I worked with an alcoholic in my previous job and he'd quite often turn up with more than a few under hid belt for a night shift.

In my previous job the redundancy packages of the old timers were in the $200-250K range, along with $50K of LSL on top, and this was in private enterprise, non unionised workforce. They were just lucky to have had things negotiated in a way very beneficial to them 20 odd years ago, so it might have been due to the unions at that time.

Have to say the Holden workers are some of the few plebs around who've had pay rises in line with CEOs.

Unions have to answer for some of the issues we're facing, poor management too, and then we as voters not willing to face up to the fact we want the Government to spend more than it collects in taxes.

The above posts, just show there is too much money floating around.

It reminds me of that quote by Robin Williams, "cocaine is gods way of telling you, you are making too much money.

SPC Ardmona can get by with a $22m government handout as opposed to the original $50m it asked for.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-13/victorian-government-announces-package-for-spc-ardmona/5257564

Ijustnewit said:

...It's like the historical Cascade beer factory (the one on the label) , you can see it from the road in South Hobart , but there is nothing like saying you've been inside . Especially as a tourist , the Cadbury factory is no different...

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Cadbury and Cascade are national tourism icons, I wouldn't begrudge any subsidies to either institution. Meaning no offence to Boags, which is also a good setup.

You'll never taste a crisper lager than the post-tour sample at Cascade. Superbly and distinctively crafted, and post-lagering fresh. (No I'm not an employee).

Rewards for the faceless men of the Liberal extreme right


Former Howard minister Nick Minchin to replace former Labor premier Steve Bracks as consul general to New York

F

ormer Howard government minister Nick Minchin has been confirmed as Australia's consul general to New York in a move likely to reignite political brinkmanship over the role.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop sacked former Victorian Labor premier Steve Bracks from the position in one of the Coalition's first acts post-election, before the Government had even been sworn in.

The former government appointed Mr Bracks in May 2013 and he had not officially taken up the role before it was revoked last September.

Richard Lether has continued as the acting consul general in New York during that time, prompting Opposition queries as to why the role had still not been filled as of this month.

A statement from Ms Bishop this morning confirmed that Mr Minchin, who quit politics in 2010 and who has been speculated as a possible appointee for the consul general ever since Mr Bracks's sacking, will take up the role.

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What a lazy mob these Liberals ....really its Labors fault what a joke.

Assistant Health Minister Fiona Nash's chief of staff Alastair Furnival resigns after conflict of interest claims

Labor calls for full explanation

Labor is still insisting the minister give a detailed explanation of her role in the decision to delay the Health Star Rating system.

The Opposition's health spokeswoman Catherine King said Senator Furnival was "engaging in a debate about semantics in order to protect herself", and called on Prime Minister Tony Abbott to "consider the case".

"Why did the minister decide to intervene?" Ms King said.

"Did she declare the issue she was supposed to declare, and what has happened between her office and the Prime Minister's office."

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http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-...of-food-labelling-controversy-resigns/5261052