Bob Carr Quits (3 Viewers)

[tempco]

About goddamn time! that fucking idiot who doesn't drive or take trains has let Sydney's transport infrastructure rot to the stinking core About time he stood aside since he didn't give a damn about his job responsibilities anyway

you're assuming this is a turn for the better.

 

[braindrainedAsh]

Hmmm yes it will be interesting what this does for the Labor party in NSW. Refshauge is the only one with a high enough profile I reckon.... maybe Scully.... and everyone hates Sartor. Well at least everyone I know. Anyone that lives in Redfern Waterloo anyway.

 

[gordo]

i wonder if the hsc premier's award will remain

 

[townie]

i hope it's refshauge or watkins

NOT SCULLY, please, and i didnt even know Iemma was that guys name!

 

[Not-That-Bright]

i hope it's refshauge or watkins

NOT SCULLY, please, and i didnt even know Iemma was that guys name!

Did anyone (right,left,centre) like Carr?

 

[townie]

"Deputy Premier, Treasurer and Labor Left faction leader Andrew Refshauge ruled out running for the premiership himself and said he was sad Mr Carr had today announced his resignation from politics."

dang nabit

i didnt mind carr, but, after too long in power, it gets 2 ur head, like some other *cough*PM*cough*

 

[Calculon]

Hmmm yes it will be interesting what this does for the Labor party in NSW. Refshauge is the only one with a high enough profile I reckon.... maybe Scully.... and everyone hates Sartor. Well at least everyone I know. Anyone that lives in Redfern Waterloo anyway.

Just reverse the 1967(?) referendum and that'll cease to be a problem

 

[stella8h8chang]

Whoa, I did not see that coming...

 

[santaslayer]

i wonder if the hsc premier's award will remain

Of course it will!


Unless it was previously called the HSC Premier BoB Carr Award. :/

 

[Atticus.]

this is the best thing to happen to nsw ever
better than the olympics

 

[Rafy]

"Next week when there is a new Premier of NSW, the same old team will be leading NSW," Mr Brogden told reporters.

"The trains will still be running late, we'll still be paying the highest taxes in the country, we'll still have the slowest growing economy in this country and the health system will be in absolute crisis.

"All that will happen next week is that there will be the same horse with a different jockey."

Unfortunately quite true.

 

[supercharged]

you're assuming this is a turn for the better.

I'm sure it will be better because it simply can't get any worse. I doubt the next leader could make rail, roads and water infrastructure go to hell any faster than Bob Carr, even if he wanted to.

 

[Not-That-Bright]

1. My trains don't run late. They are pretty good.

2. Taxes are Federal. Perhaps if the states recieved more of the GST income AS THEY WERE PROMISED then there would be no need for land tax (et al) to fund infrustructure. How does Broggers intend to fund the improvment of rail infrustructure and roadworks? Don't ask Peter Costello he doesnt believe in public infrustructure.

3. Health is a concurrent power. Blame can be shared between State and Federal.

---

Come on Brogs. Some solutions please. Other than his top notch education policy 'make all schools sing the national anthem in front of the Australian flag'

It's alarming that there is such little talent on both sides of state politics. All the NSW libs have is Broggers and Good ol Barry O'Farrel.

Your trains run on time? Can I move to Asquith?

 

[Not-That-Bright]

Hornsby. My trains are always on time (I'm well aware this isnt the case out west)...

Yesterday, I was sitting at the platform waiting for my train, and it got delayed by 10 minutes 3 times (that's 30 minutes). I have to leave at about 11:30 to get to paramatta for a 2:00 class.

The only way I can see of fixing this problem is through money and more infrastructure. The city rail network simply isn't good enough.

 

[Rafy]

Hornsby??

I live at beecroft and just yesterday, my 7.00 train got cancelled (reason given: signal problems at hornsby)

 

[jpr333]

My moneys on Scully

 

[Rafy]

The following is a transcript of Bob Carr's Resignation speech

Well ladies and gentlemen 17 years ago I was elected leader of my party, an incredible 17 years ago. Ten years ago I was elected premier of this great state.

Far longer than I thought I'd ever serve or want to serve in both cases.

Only one other leader in modern NSW politics has had the privilege of serving 10 years at the helm, that was Neville Wran.

And like Neville, I've faced the challenge of deciding when to move on.

There is never a perfect time in these things.

Sharing this past weekend with Helena, one of those beautiful Sydney weekends, I and she were impressed by the notion that you could spend more of your time in a nice way. And we've decided that time had come.

And so today I announce my retirement as Premier and Member for Maroubra, effective from next Wednesday.

I do so in the spirit of Lincoln's second inaugural address, "with malice for none, with charity to all". And if anyone thought they were going to get through this without a Lincoln quote, they were suffering an illusion.

Today is another one of those sparkling Sydney days. I remember the first day of the Sydney Olympics when Helena and I strolled up Circular Quay after the start of the first Games event on the harbour.

And we met Australians from many backgrounds, united in pride in their city and excitement with the previous night's opening ceremony. They were old Australians and new Australians, and I felt for the first time the sheer honour of representing these people. And at being able to make decisions on their behalf at this time, perhaps the happiest time in Australian history.

I felt the same honour in my work with fine public servants.

The geriatric care nurse I met at Prince of Wales Hospital who I will never forget when she spoke about her love for her old patients. Or the neo-natal nurses at Liverpool saving these fragile bundles of life. Or the oncology nurses in Sutherland and Prince Alfred. The teachers and librarians who took up our literacy crusade. The police who've worked with us to drive down crime.

My saddest time in the job was attending the funerals of the two Rural Fire Service volunteers at Lithgow in late 1997.

And the devastatingly sad funerals I remember to this day very vividly for fine police officers killed on duty.

I'm proud to have regarded these public servants as colleagues. Colleagues in public service, and to have supported them to the best of my ability.

I demonstrated that support by finding the billions required to rebuild every major teaching hospital, for the programs that have slashed the death rates from cancer and heart disease.

The $1.2 billion literacy plan that has given NSW students literacy standards equal to the best in the world.

Or the $1.2 billion that is recruiting over 800 new child protection workers.

I don't believe in elected officials being on the honours list and will not accept or seek one. There's honour enough for me at the sight of the rebuilt Conservatorium of Music or the new Sydney Theatre. The Olympic facilities in Sydney's greater west or the new stadium in Newcastle.

Or on another scale, the knowledge that as a result of a decision we made in the Parliament in 1994 in Opposition, we had a Royal Commission that cleaned institutionalised corruption from the NSW Police Force. An historic reform.

For me the symbolic gestures count as well.

The first parliamentary apology to the Stolen Generation.

The Unity in Adversity summit which brought together all faiths to express our condemnation of terrorism and intolerance in the wake of September 11 and Bali.

And that wonderful reconciliation with Joern Utzon, the architect of the Opera House, who'd been effectively banished from this state in 1965. Now in the last stages of his life, he's honoured by the city that he honoured with the greatest modern building.

Years ago as a young environment minister I formed the view the natural world was in retreat. And I'm very proud by the sheer scale and power of what my government has been able to do appropriate to that challenge.

Saving the South East forests. 350 new national parks. The native vegetation reforms. I believe this agenda has been so vast that many in the media have not been able to get their brains around it.

The scale of this, the grandeur of it is in my view a gift to generations of Australians as yet unborn, our great conversation with the future.

As of next Wednesday, those challenges belong to another leader. One of my trusted Cabinet colleagues who will have 20 months to establish himself or herself before the election.

They will go to that election with an unprecedented $37 billion infrastructure plan. With $12 billion in debt paid off. And the state's finances in excellent shape.

Whoever that leader is, they will have my full support.

I've always made a point on election nights of thanking my personal staff and the staff of ALP party office, past and present. And over the next few days I will spend a lot of time thanking each person.

Let me simply say that after this long 17-year journey, including four elections and a decade in government, they're the best political staff in Australia.

Through my chief of staff, Graeme Wedderburn, who's been with me from the first days in Opposition to these last days in government, I thank and honour them, as I do Amanda Lampe, Walt Secord and every last one of them.

I also thank my good friend, the Deputy Premier Andrew Refshauge. He joined me the first day when I took over the leadership. And he's been there for the tough decisions and all the challenges that followed.

To Andrew and to all my ministerial and parliamentary colleagues, thank you - we've been a great team, we've achieved a great deal of good together.

To Helena, who's lived and breathed every second of this journey with me, my incredible gratitude as well.

But most of all, I thank the people of NSW. What an unbelievable honour. You put your trust in me and my team over four elections. It enabled me to sell tough policies, to engage in a dialogue with you about subjects as diverse as our forests and medically supervised injecting room. The whole agenda of state politics over the last 10 years.

This has been a solid chapter in the Australian story. The Olympics. The environment. The massive capital works. The focus on education. Comforting the families of the Bali victims and to secure NSW against such an attack.

The journey that began here at Port Jackson in January 1788, the journey of modern NSW continues.

But as of next Wednesday, my part in that story comes to an end. It's been the greatest honour and privilege imaginable.

Thank you.

 

[transcendent]

I'm going to miss Premier Bob Carr. I really liked him.

 

[frog12986]

1. My trains don't run late. They are pretty good.

2. Taxes are Federal. Perhaps if the states recieved more of the GST income AS THEY WERE PROMISED then there would be no need for land tax (et al) to fund infrustructure. How does Broggers intend to fund the improvment of rail infrustructure and roadworks? Don't ask Peter Costello he doesnt believe in public infrustructure.

3. Health is a concurrent power. Blame can be shared between State and Federal.

---

Come on Brogs. Some solutions please. Other than his top notch education policy 'make all schools sing the national anthem in front of the Australian flag'

It's alarming that there is such little talent on both sides of state politics. All the NSW libs have is Broggers and Good ol Barry O'Farrel.

Trains were running at 91% accuracy in 01/02 and this has declined to 62% in the latest figures...One would have to be in another 'state' to remotely believe that the trains are not problem...Although at least terrorists will find it difficult to coordinate an attack on the rail network...

Fund Infrastructure? The only path which these funds follow is that to the pockets of the exorbatant number of public servants that now exist at a state level...
Since Carr came to power around 30000 more public servants were added to an already congested bureaucracy which compares to an extra 3000 odd police and 5000 odd nurses in the same period....


Health a concurrent power...that may be true however whenever waiting lists are the topic for discussion, the onus is placed upon the state governments to provide. In 1995 Bob Carr made a pledge to halve the waiting lists from 44707, in 2005 these figures stand at 63000...This declaration alone emphasises the known ability by state governments to act upon the health system and achieve positive results. However as the figures indicate this was to no avail...

The debate will continue and each issue will be discussed over the next 2 years. As for the lack of developed policy by the opposition, it would be political stupidity to release policies this far out from an election when they will either be forgotten by the electorate or modified and implemented by the incumbent government...No important policies will be tabled by the opposition until at least the beginning of 2006 and for good reason...

 

[hiphophorray123]

good he was a cunt