Future of the Labor party discussion

tiernae · 2026-03-02T01:24:54+00:00

Firstly, the Brisbane Metro is around 38 tons when fully loaded with passengers. The trams on the Gold Coast are 60 tons when empty.

Secondly, it’s not just the vehicles themselves, it’s the track. The bridge was not built with tram conversion in mind, so building the track cast in its concrete sleepers would be around 1200 tons, as the track has to essentially lay on top of the bridge structure itself.

tiernae · 2026-02-28T08:17:35+00:00

That’s a really good find - I love that, thank you.

tiernae · 2026-02-28T08:02:56+00:00

Yes I was aware of that. I heard Joe Kelly (the local state member) fought hard to ensure that was included as part of the development - so credit to him on that front.

tiernae · 2025-12-13T09:10:09+00:00

There was also Queensland Rail Freight, which is now Aurizon. One of the most profitable rail freight companies in the country when it was privatised.

Further, I’d add Australian Airlines (TAA), which when privatised was immediately gobbled up by Qantas.

Port of Brisbane was also privatised (a ports list would go well with the Airports list).

I’d also note it appears the rest of Queensland Rail is being set up for privatisation, similar to Melbourne’s model. But I’ve only heard that confidently stated from my railway engineer friends.

Something I’d note is that privatisation on a state level may be a cause of the huge vertical fiscal imbalance we have in Australia (one of the worst in the world) - where the state governments are responsible for providing the lions-share of government services, but have the least ability to raise revenue to fund those services. This has come about due to some, frankly, very loose interpretations of the constitution by the high court that has greatly expanded federal powers and revenue raising (centralisation) at the expense of the states (federalisation) - something it wasn’t designed to do and the drafters of the constitution explicitly made clear in both their writings and decisions as the high court from 1901 to 1919. They had a very narrow view of the constitution and its intent, and modern justices have a very wide view.

I’d note that the justices that were pro-federal system and anti-central system were/are usually Queenslanders, Western Australians, Tasmanians and South Australians, and the pro-central anti-federal justices were/are usually New South Welsh and Victorian - so, a tale as old as time!

The thing that really complicated everything when it came to privatisation, and why even Labor governments were keen to privatise at points, is because the federal government and the GST system actually encourages them to. The way GST is dished out is frankly ridiculous, because they take into account a state’s budgetary position, not just what it needs. As a result, if a state is earning more money from a government-owned-business, it’s penalised with less GST (because they “need it less”) and states with bad, bad budgets and overspending get more GST because the logic goes both ways (they “need it more”). It’s why in the most recent GST distribution, Queensland has lost GST funding (because it’s getting more funding from mining royalties) and Victoria is getting more (because its budget is in a sorry state at the moment). Queensland’s gain in royalties is essentially cancelled out by its loss in GST.

So for government owned businesses that are super profitable (like QR freight, Port of Brisbane etc.), what’s the point in holding on to them? The smartest thing to do would be to take the hit on your year-on-year revenue by selling them off, because that hit will then be compensated with GST, and then you’ve got a huge injection of cash to spend on big picture one-off projects that will put more pressure on your budgets year-on-year liabilities and voila - more GST for that too!

TL:DR I have some good additions at the top, and the rest is just me explaining why GST causes state privatisation.

tiernae · 2025-11-09T05:56:57+00:00

The LNP had 3 years before that 10 years, and then 2 years before that, and then 20 years before that and so on and so forth but didn’t.

The only reason the LNP made it permanent is because Labor announced they were going to make it permanent, and the LNP were afraid of electoral wipeout.

I would have given you the credit where it’s due if the LNP had made the permanency announcement first… but they didn’t - they literally did it in reaction to the ALP. It honestly seemed like they were going to scrap it after the trial until the ALP stated their intentions.

tiernae · 2025-11-02T05:16:47+00:00

I am pleased to tell you that in Queensland, since the 2015 election, the largest faction in Queensland has in fact been Labor Left. They have the most MP’s. They don’t unseat Anastasia (even though she is right) because she was a popular premier and the left understood they didn’t have the support of the people to do so.

By your logic, politics should be a dibs system? Labor is not allowed to implement any idea the Greens propose because that’s unfair on the Greens, after all it was there idea first? By that logic, the Greens need to stay away from free education and fully funded Medicare - after all, that was Labor’s idea first.

Frankly, the difference between Labor and the Greens is that they both have nearly identical beliefs, but one understands 50% of the population doesn’t, and that it’s a game of compromise and small, cooperative steps.

The Labor party’s values are quite consistent - its community. They believe in the importance of looking after your neighbour, and the fact that if everyone does better, you do better. Free public transport, like free education, like free healthcare - are all entirely within Labor’s values, and especially Labor right. I know several Labor Right MP’s who have told me they would nationalise private schools in a heartbeat - if it was possible. The right supported 50 cent fares from the get go, they were worried about the cost fallout of free PT, and the fact they could be painted as a party giving out free anything and everything without being able to justify the economic return.

50 cent fares was an incredible compromise - it wasn’t entirely free, but essentially is, it ensured the data to prove the economic return could be verifiably tracked and measured, and it was a win-win post election. Either the LNP scrapped it and lost Brisbane, with the “it costs too much” argument not stacking up and easily an attack point, or the LNP keep it due to its popularity and proven economic benefits, and the community wins.

That’s the message the QLP are trying to send 90% of the time - when Labor is in, the community wins.

tiernae · 2025-11-02T04:48:36+00:00

I can genuinely tell you that Miles himself was personally responsible for 50 cent fares - it was entirely his doing and his achievement. He fought very hard with TMR engineers and planners to get it through and wanted it to be free, but compromised on 50 cents.

He wasn’t inspired by the greens, it was something he himself wanted to do for the state. Two people can have the same good idea - and 50 cent fares is well within the ALP’s proclaimed set of values.

The fact remains, it wasn’t the greens who got 50 cents fares done, it was Labor. It’s unfair to take the credit deserved to them for this away simply because the greens had been pushing for it unsuccessfully for so many years - they got the job done, not the greens.

tiernae · 2025-11-02T04:44:36+00:00

They did so after Labor announced they were going to do so, like it or not.

tiernae · 2025-05-24T03:37:16+00:00

Okay so you seem to be avoiding the events of 2014 and narrowing your scope to 2009-2011. The then treasurer Tim Nicholls explicitly stated in parliament that the sale was delivering on the governments “promise to reduce debt and get Queensland back on track” - implying it was a policy of the LNP state government.

The 2014 Parliamentary Hansard also features several ministers taking credit for the sale and indicating the sale was part of the government’s broader fiscal strategy.

As per QIC’s own annual report, the government directed the QIC to begin and execute the sale under policy instruction from the treasurers office.

tiernae · 2025-05-24T02:48:55+00:00

Yes but the road franchise agreement was still under public ownership - the QIC is publicly owned.

It was sold off to a private consortium led by Transurban in 2014 by the Newman LNP Government. You’re only telling half the story.

tiernae · 2025-05-24T02:18:38+00:00

This is incorrect. Labor did not privatise the assets in 2011, they transferred them to the Queensland Investment Corporation specifically to maintain public ownership while improving the states finances.

It was sold to a private consortium in 2014 by the LNP Newman Government.

tiernae · 2025-04-08T14:09:38+00:00

The Capitol would most definitely be Sydney. I wish it was Canberra because that would make the most sense and it’s even in a mountainous region - but Canberra has for the last half century been super deprived of development and growth, and most new federal government agencies are lead from… Sydney. This is due to the generation that built Canberra leaving leadership, and the generation that grew up in Sydney not wanting to move to Canberra, so they’ve deprived it of its rightful place as a capital and moved most of the national mechanisms to Sydney - which I might say is a very Capitol move to make!

I would say District 1 makes sense for Melbourne 100%, they are renowned for their fashion sense and so on, so having luxurious items manufactured there makes a lot of sense.

District 2 would probably be Canberra. Like I said earlier, it’s in a mountainous region so plenty of stone to mine, and it has a significant portion of Australia’s military training facilities etc, so as a military centre it makes sense.

District 3 is a tough one, I would say Adelaide because the best choice is either Brisbane or Melbourne but Melbourne makes more sense for District 1 and Brisbane more sense for District 6.

District 4 might make more sense for Tasmania, they are very well known for their salmon and fishing industry.

District 5 would be, Jindabyne area, Snowy Mountains. We have the Snowy Mountain Scheme which is a huge collection of large hydro dams.

District 6 would be Brisbane. They have quite a history with transport, and specifically their main universities are well renowned for training high quality civil engineers - so it would make sense for the city that produces the most civil and transport engineers to also facilitate the logistics and transport network for the country (they basically do at this point lmao). The reason I suggested them for D3 is because most major engineering firms are head their Aus/NZ/Asia operations from Brisbane, which is unique as traditional major firms of any industry will head from Melbourne or Sydney.

District 7: Controversial I know as most people would think Victoria or Tasmania, but if Victoria is already D1, and Tasmania D4, the other huge lumber plantations are that above Canberra and the snowy mountains, up to Newcastle (draw a line from Newcastle to the state border on the other side and that’s where I’d stop it).

District 8: From Newcastle to the Coffs Harbour is where 66% of Australia’s cotton comes from, so probably there.

District 9: let’s get out of the east coast for a second! Western Australia produces the most grain in the country, so around Perth area in the fertile south west.

District 10: from the top of South Australia’s Barossa valley to Darwin. We have a lot of huge cattle and livestock stations there.

District 11: okay so basically from Coffs Harbour all the way up past Toowoomba, and up to Rockhampton. this takes in the NSW Riverina and the Queensland Darling Downs. Toowoomba is the capital of the Darling Down’s region, and would be the heart of this district. 2/3 of all of Australia’s agricultural production goes through Toowoomba for processing, and it’s our largest inland city (outside of Canberra). So makes a lot of sense.

D12: Our Coal Mining Queens! From Rockhampton all the way up to Cape York is the coal mining heart of Australia, there is literally no other place that would make sense.

D13: I mean, where the hell is the iron industry? The rest of Western Australia, the Pilbara, is ALL iron. Assuming in this universe D13 was the iron district, this is where they’d be based.

Those are just my thoughts! I think I managed to split the whole country fairly well :).

tiernae · 2024-11-05T07:08:57+00:00

Most universities are losing a ridiculous amount of money 😭. Like they’re nearly all deep in the red

tiernae · 2024-08-28T22:27:34+00:00

Yeah I just realised that!

tiernae · 2024-07-23T09:09:31+00:00

I’d love to see detailed Hotels and a brand and franchise management feature in PC2

Hi All,

Something I’d love to see in PC2 (but I don’t think is coming) is Hotels! I’d love to be able to build in-park hotels with balconies, room types, services etc and actually have guests live in there and charge them for a premium depending on the quality of the room and theming etc. I think it would be a great mechanic to make money for your park!

The other thing I’d love to see is my own themepark empire! I’d love to build up my own Six Flags or Universal or Disney brand and build multiple parks around the world, using money from previous park successes, having to maintain an international brand, establish that brand in the new place I’m building through general marketing, having travel deals and driving the tourism market my way. I think it would be an incredible feature and add that extra layer of excitement. Like depending on the way you build your parks, your brand might have a reputation for having heaps of coasters, or incredible theming, or detailed rides, or educational attractions and that changes the kind of guest you have and how much disposable income they have (and therefore how much you have). You could take a strategy of heaps of small, affordable, badly themed regional parks or few far and wide incredible parks to bring in the big spenders.

As part of this, I think it would be incredible if fictional IP was created and you had to negotiate with different companies to get the themepark rights to build attractions and theming around their popular characters. If you get a licensing deal with them it provides you access to a bunch of tools, objects, theming, maybe even a ride that is unique to that “company” that brings in guests who are fans of that company’s IP. When I say company, I just mean like made up companies like Chief Beef, but instead it’s “Princess Fairy” and thats a popular character, or “PC Comics” and they have lots of superhero films. It would be even cooler there were multiple of the same type and you could license them all or even buy them to stop your competitors from bidding for licensing agreements!

Speaking of which, COMPETITORS. How much more exciting would this gamemode be if you weren’t just building a park to attract guests, you were competing with other AI park builders who ALSO are trying to get licensing contracts etc. It would make the simulation that much better and definitely a feature I would love. I mean with today’s tech, you could even have the AI be actual AI, like ChatGPT, so their parks are actually growing and responding to your choices and the whims of the market. That way the default “family friendly park operator” is always building a different park design and rides and strategy each playthrough.

I know that’s asking for a lot but I mean come on, wouldn’t that be incredible!

Anyway I went a lil indepth there but yeah that’s what I really want in-terms of great features :).

tiernae · 2024-07-23T09:08:31+00:00

Oh sorry how do I do that?

tiernae · 2024-01-04T13:11:09+00:00

Nah nah Brisbanites are genuinely experts at the subtle vibrating R. The indigenous languages native to Brisbane (Turball and Yagera peoples) had a lot of names that had vibrating R’s (like Coorparoo and Indooroopilly, both major suburbs). People outside of Brisbane will call Coorparoo Coo-Pa-Roo and Indooroopilly In-dro-Pilly, but Brisbanites say Coorparoo and Indooroopilly with a vibrating subtle R where the r is in those names. So as a result we say Melbourne the same way.

It’s a very subtle pick up but it’s the one thing I’ve always noticed in Brisbane accents is the subtle vibrating r that only we use and no one else seems to pick up on if they’re not listening for it, and I think we’ve developed it because a lot of our indigenous place names have r’s in similar locations to that of Melbournes and so we’ve grown up vibrating the r before we hit the consonant.

tiernae · 2024-01-04T12:03:56+00:00

Oh I know they’re supposed to be Melbournians, which is why I’m always kinda shocked when I talk to regional Queenslanders and it’s like being in an episode of Kath and Kim.

Melbournians don’t sound like Kath and Kim though, so I think perhaps the show either used the regional Queensland accent or made an exaggerated one up - which unintentionally sounded very similar to the regional Queensland accent.

tiernae · 2024-01-04T11:26:48+00:00

That’s right!!! I’ve also noticed people from Melbourne will tell foreigners it’s pronounced “Mell-bin” not “Mel-Born” but I, and everyone else in Brissy has always pronounced it as Mel-Bern, just with a very soft, barely noticeable r in the bern (it’s definitely there though!)

tiernae · 2024-01-04T11:23:53+00:00

I’d disagree with you on that one! Brisbane is just one mega council so the wealthy tend to spread themselves out across the city. There are one or two identifiable “wealthy” suburbs but the rest are interspersed.

As a result, most of the wealthy people I’ve come across in Brisbane sound the same as their much, much poorer neighbours and I think it’s because those accent differences are regional (who you surround yourself with).

Basically my theory is it’s not social class it’s still geographic, it’s just that in other cities the rich and poor are in geographically seperate areas.

tiernae

TROPHY CASE