With Victoria leading the way, the eastern states are making progress in their fierce fight to wrest back control of towering infrastructure construction costs.
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Comments PolicyLet us hope then that O'Farrell shows some of the backbone needed.
Given his reluctance to bite the bullet on the Badgery's Creek site for a desperately needed new Sydney aitrport, the signs aren't great.
I really hope I am wrong (States advance against a union fortress, December 7).
About time the unions were taken on (States advance against a union fortress, December 7). There job is to work on behalf of aggreived members not to manage large companies. It is not a union decision who works on a particular site, it is a business decision. The current union action against Grocon ia appaling and the union should be dergistered.
It is a battle and the federal government is blocking the states wherever it can (States advance against a union fortress, December 7). For example I have heard of one case where a state in privatising one of its services is following the dictum of the Feds and requiring tenderers to take over the states employees without loss of benefits to those employees.A tender condition guaranteed to increase the cost to the state government.
Well, it's a start. Victorian government has realised that it must split complex contracts (States advance against a union fortress, December 7).
Are the contracts complex (and expensive) because the clients (and they include more governments than just the Victorian government) cannot manage complex projects and take the easy way out by looking for design-and-construct contractors to do everything? And have no one to write a decent D&C contract?
Back to the future perhaps, and bring back the public works departments? not to have a construction work-force of its own, but to carry out strategic planning, draw up consultants' briefs in a competent way, and manage the design process so as to get documents for build-this type of contracts. That's what splitting complex contracts requires.
Has anyone calculated the cost of our legal system in terms of court process and delays, pay structures, productivity losses arising from judgements, their own language, the myriad of ass covering due to legal issues, ridiculous privacy laws that hinder the most basic enquiries, actions (States advance against a union fortress, December 7).
Not surprising the one profession that has not been reformed let alone deregulated (save conveyancing lol) also dominates the political ranks.