Commonwealth flags ports takeover The Federal Government has floated a plan to take over the planning and regulation of Australia's major port facilities from the states and territories. Transport Minister John Anderson says the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission could take over from the various state bodies to regulate key ports, including Queensland's Dalrymple Bay and Port Botany in New South Wales.

From the ABC

Costello renews call for ports handover
Federal Treasurer Peter Costello has re-issued his call for the states to hand over the regulation of ports to the Commonwealth.

The Treasurer says the Commonwealth should have control of regulatory arrangements for ports to complement its responsibility for the national economy.

Mr Costello told Channel Nine the Federal Government has no jurisdiction over ports.

"The Commonwealth doesn't own a port, doesn't control a port and yet the ports are the lifeblood for our external relations and our international trade," he said.

"How can we take responsibility for our export infrastructure and our trading position if we don't have regulatory responsibility for ports?"

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Gus: this Federal minister who also complained that federalism "did not work" should realise that if this is the case the states ought to form a new federal government that is not trying to shaft them a every street corner... The Treasurer who also pats himself on the back for the "biggest windfall to the states since WWII" in the form of GST, should also nail his foot to the floor boards from having stopped a certain P J Keating to do the same 20 years earlier... Not only he blames the states for mismanagement, he himself has cut down many essential services from education, elderly, pensioners, middle and lower wage earners, and plenty more... services that the states have to fix up with the crumbs he gives them... His budgets thus have been the transferrer of a small government debt to a large personal debt by each and every one of us... His tax cuts are only coating to the greater bitter pill of a 400 per cent increase in housing, a doubling of the price of petrol while wages have risen about 14 per cent during the same period...

So go away, Pete... Don't touch the port bottle...

From the ABC

Costello's federalism push a leadership bid, Opposition says
The Federal Opposition says a push by Treasurer Peter Costello to shake-up federal-state government relations is part of a leadership bid.

Mr Costello has has reissued his call for the states to hand over the regulation of ports to the Commonwealth.

He says the Commonwealth should have control of regulatory arrangements for ports to complement its responsibility for the national economy.

Opposition treasury spokesman Wayne Swan says the initiative is about Mr Costello trying to take over from Prime Minister John Howard.

"Peter Costello has always been interested in his own personal political leadership, he's had his eye on John Howard's job, he hasn't had his eye on national economic reform that's been there for everybody to see," he said.

Meanwhile, New South Wales Treasurer Michael Costa says Mr Costello's call for a renewed look at federalism is too one-sided.

Mr Costa says while federal reform is needed, NSW is already suffering from an imbalance in the GST allocations.

"It seems to be half-baked and one-sided," he said.

"He seems to be looking at the revenue side without looking at the expenditure side and this proposal could see a further under-funding of state services."

Queensland Premier Peter Beattie says the states will not hand over their powers.

He refuses to hand over responsibility for the ports.

"We run them [ports] better than the Commonwealth," Mr Beattie said.

When I mis-heard them to be haggling over porKs, I thought they could be half-serious. Now I know better. Another sham debate in a moribund news cycle. Another flap of the tea-towel.

The source of this round of non-sense is in Peter Costello - Unplugged:

... You know in politics you are dealing in the realm of choices. You don't always have clear-cut decision between a thoroughly principled position and a thoroughly unprincipled one. You're making snap decisions with paucity of information, generally trying to do the best that you can, but you will make errors, and sometimes it's a decision between a bad and a worse alternative. It has to be done, because we need to order our society, and of politics it can literally be said: Bad job, but someone's got to do it. ...

Costello is a closet republican, right? Then, he ought to be planning to listen to GWB's July 4th speech, right? Because, if Howard hands it off, Costello will be licking George's ass, right? Therefore, since Rupert is calling the shots, a news.com lickspittle will be detailed to do a Costello "exclusive" fairly soon, right? So - will said mouthpiece be brave enough to get Costello to voice an opinion about the current US administration?

From the ABC

Downer backs push to take powers from states
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has thrown his support behind the Federal Treasurer's push to overhaul relations between Canberra and the states.

Peter Costello wants the Federal Government to take full responsibility for key areas such as tax, industrial relations and ports.

Mr Downer says the states have not fulfilled their responsibilities adequately.

"The fact is that the state governments for decades have been playing party politics and politics with the Federal Government of one kind or another," he said.

"They've not got good outcomes and the federal governments, both Labor and Liberal, have had to intervene increasingly to try to ensure there are better outcomes."

Opposition Leader Kim Beazley has defended the state labor leaders saying Mr Costello has not thought the issue through.

"What you hear from [Mr] Costello is a sort of arrogant thought bubble as he boards the plane for Honiara," Mr Beazley said.

The chief executive of ports operator Toll Holdings, Paul Little, says national co-ordination is a good idea.

"There's no point in having some ports with capabilities that other ports don't have," he said.

The state and territory leaders have ridiculed Mr Costello's proposals.

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Gus: The Federal Government not only is arrogant, imbecilic with gravitas on many issues, it is also monochromatic and full of prejudices. It is a high duty for the States to fight the Federal Monster that is deliberately mismanaging the survival of ordinary Australians in favour of the rich and blaming the states in the process... One can see the prod from the prime grocer hidden behind the stage while he's scratching his innocence in front of everyone about the subject...

Costello's thought-bubble about the States brought out the tribal values held dear by the Premiers. Tribal sovereignty has been explained, and upheld, by the boy genius GWB back in 2004.

That pearl of wisdom, captured so cogently and economically by Bush, and expounded by Jesse Jackson, should be a lesson to our own boy king.

Sorry Alan (Moir) of the SMH but today's cartoon (5 July 06) fell way of the mark... —( I only used the unflattering headline to attract attention... love your stuff most of the time) — ... I did laugh mind you, but Federation as an old clapped out steam engine in the age of play-station?... Please.

This is belittling the forefather of Federation, those who our Grocer celebrated in style in England with the Queen if my memory is serving me half-bakedly.

Federalism in the way of progress? Cripes! The old codgers who created Federalism were far more intelligent that the grab-all riffraff we have now... I had to learn all this the hard way because I arrived in this republic just after the pound had exhausted its last shilling and the Dollar had been made king... But changing the Fed status just because the dollar has become a fully fledged dictator? No way... Federation is an idea put in place with the means of the times but the idea is strong and can last another thousand years with just an oil job. Not many ideas are new, just tactics, technology and acceptance in sharing... Go back to the Roman empires or Greek republics to see the idea being there already with a dash of slavery to do their oil job... But to let a Mr Costello place his grubby grab-all hands on the whole loot? that would be against all the natural laws of survival via diversity. Yes I know humans are a dull lot... most of us like things to be predictable and organised, with the regularity of a mucilaged bowel. But the forefathers of the Federation knew that and constructed it, not perfectly sure, but at least with more enlightened brains than our current crop of failed lawyers who are burnishing their pants on the benches of a parliament bigger than their boots.

Federation as it stands now denies this country a devastating monoculture that would soon appear on the right of Hitler... and that's good. In other times, the process has denied this country falling in the hands of commos under the bed... So there.

If you are a smart politician chuffed by the idea of having an original fully electronically generated Gus Leonisky cartoon of your good self, in high resolution — those already posted on this site of course (please select carefully, only one per elected personnel unless I'm in a good mood which is rare) contact the site by either posting a line to that regard (using your secretary or under a fake moustache if you wish), make enough noise in Canberra so we can hear your rumbles of desire or leave a note in a newspaper. You never know, you might get a large JPEG for you to colour-print in your own time and then frame for your glorious den or the kitchen wall to cover that greasy spot. Delivered either via mail or email... seriously. I'm not impatiently waiting, I got other things to do... and if you feel like throwing some dough at a charity of your choice for the privilege, do it.

 

please follow the trail of cartoons in Gus' s View...