Comments on: Brumby as COAG reformer? The last person you’d want

By: geomac62

geomac62 — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 22:48:44 +0000

pritu
He didn,t have the same presence as Bracks . Brumby was credited with building up the regional vote while treasurer for Bracks by the media . Having both the pipeline thing and the desal plant annoyed rural voters on either side of the state . I could never understand why they undertook both projects instead of just one . The desal plant was overkill , too big and a panic decision because of the conditions after a decade of drought .
Ballyhoo surprisingly has lost his shine by mid term . Probably more because of Ryan and ministers like Guy , Davis and Wells than the perception of do nothing Ted .

By: pritu

pritu — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 12:16:33 +0000

Didn’t he squander most of the goodwill built up by Bracks in one short term?

By: geomac62

geomac62 — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 02:14:10 +0000

I found the obsession with PPPs the worst part of Brumby as premier . As journo Kenneth Davidson has regularly shown they don,t deliver value for taxpayers money and contract details are too heavily in favour of private as against public .
Bolte wasn,t my favourite person but he put Victoria deep in the red to build major infrastructure that benefited Victorians rather than consortiums . Two reasons Bolte blotted his career : hanging Ryan for political reasons and being the only Victorian to have his blood sample lost after a drink accident .
One thing I will give Brumby is when he broadcast very clearly the coming danger that led to black Saturday . I have never seen a polly put it out there so starkly and without spin . Other than that he was a competent premier who kept the obsession of being in the black while delivering a reasonable service to the public , a B or C+ .

By: Peter Logan

Peter Logan — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 07:32:23 +0000

It was Brumby who ignored the Victorian Auditor-General’s advice that the grand prix failed a cost benefit analysis and future events should be subjected to an update of the orignal peer reviewed study.
Instead, Brumby committed Victoria to five more years and a quarter of a billion dollars in public subsidies, with no justification, apart from discredited attendance, tv ratings, etc, all grossly exaggerated.

By: Dion Giles

Dion Giles — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 03:05:59 +0000

PROTECTIONISM !!! Australians working for Australians!! Australian economy governed by Australians!! Shock Horror! And Murray Darling Basin managed so we’ll still have a Murray Darling Basin in a decade’s time - one with water in it! Dunno much about this Bracks character, but I’m starting to like him.