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General Discussion => OFF Topic => Topic started by: Knackers on February 06, 2008, 09:03:08 AM

Title: Are we a backwater????
Post by: Knackers on February 06, 2008, 09:03:08 AM
With the recent comments by the premier from next door, is Adelaide a backwater?

Whilst working really hard today (I have way too much down time) I came across this news article, it speaks for itself. What would you do with $85 Billion? Build a complete new city maybe?

Adelaide can't eveb get a multipurpose facility off the ground in the city (Vic Park) yet others can start from scratch.

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,23167976-5005962,00.html

Hey, but at least we got a new tram line extension!
Title: Re: Are we a backwater????
Post by: Zippy on February 06, 2008, 09:29:23 AM
Time to do what a previous Premier wanted  (was it playford or dunston)

Build a new city in the area of Monarto.  Start with a few suburbs and a CBD...thing with monarto area...the city can expand NESW...not NS :P
Title: Re: Are we a backwater????
Post by: chook on February 06, 2008, 09:54:06 AM
Are thats why we pay so much for petrol!
I think there is settlement out there - it called Murray Bridge?
Yes we are - a single city dominated state, lots of nay sayers, don't like change!
In our area we could have had a non irrigation or agricultural industry - NO we might get attacked!
We could have had a rural city like Mildura, Shepparton, Albury etc - No we want to keep our sub 10,000 population towns & hospitals & schools etc.
In just over 100 years we have gone from a leader to a laugh!
We rip up the country rail system, while Victoria, NSW, Qld are expanding theirs & then sook about trucks on the road :?
The rural areas are dying & the only real industry we have is building weapons systems or digging stuff out of the ground.
Yep welcome to the festival state - don't expect too much to happen anytime soon :-D
cheers
Title: Re: Are we a backwater????
Post by: Zippy on February 06, 2008, 10:29:10 AM
Mt Gambier, Riverland, Murray Bridge, Loxton, Pt Augusta, Whyallya, Port Lincoln, Ceduna   all out of the hat :P  are our Mildura's Bendigo's...

Adelaide itself struggles to contest being a city against BENDIGO.
Title: Re: Are we a backwater????
Post by: chook on February 06, 2008, 10:58:50 AM
Yeh, so you know where I'm coming from then :-D
cheers
Title: Re: Are we a backwater????
Post by: bittenyakka on February 06, 2008, 11:31:31 AM
well we do have fewer people that next door.

i think the problem is that our state govts do not want to  invest in anything at all. then they announced the "marge mahal" and suddenly think that is all that is needed what about our trains, some roads like "half a freeway" in the south or even CFS? or mabey the hospitals we have until 2016?
Title: Re: Are we a backwater????
Post by: Zippy on February 06, 2008, 11:37:35 AM
Governments take a choice to either spend the money paid by tax's or horde it some how.  Our state government...is the Later...

no Mr Foley no excuses.  and i also think the last few governments have led to the state of Adelaide that is today that are to blame.  That does not discount that THIS government can create a full 360 turn...(not a 380 like mitsubishi).

Correction. 180 degree turn for all u maths geeks out there :P
Title: Re: Are we a backwater????
Post by: chook on February 06, 2008, 12:17:54 PM
no I think 360 is right :wink:
Yep with more revenue than ever before it makes you wonder.
However I think governments of all persuasions have been scared off by the big economic disasters of the past - so now they are economic rationalist all of them.
And that then flows to the public sector where you are only judged on how much money you save.
A good example would be the duplication of the Sturt hwy at least to Truro, I know its happening now but its 15 years too late!
And the Desal plant, water filtration for rural users etc
these are things that "brave" governments do not wait until there is a public outcry. Anyway enough politics :-D
cheers
Title: Re: Are we a backwater????
Post by: rescue5271 on February 06, 2008, 02:09:29 PM
Well when I first moved here 8 years ago from Victoria I used to hate going into adelaide on the weekends as most shops where closed or only open for half a day.In the past few years all that has changed as SA was missing out on the extra money but was also missing on tourist that came into this great state.

Things dont change over night but SA is getting there,sure we dont have the population like Victoria or any other state but we are a clean state,you go for a drive any where in SA and it would have to be the most cleanest state in AUST.Sure the goverment could and should do more,fix up roads,keep community hospitals open and stop giving large companys a helping hand all the time....
Title: Re: Are we a backwater????
Post by: Gilly on February 06, 2008, 04:31:38 PM
Adelaide is not a backwater.
To me, saying we are a back water is as useful as comparing adelaide to murray bridge. Sydney and soon melbourne have 3 times the population we do, hence requiring 3 times the resources, infrastructure, everything is larger. If we're a back water city, then im glad. It doesn't take long to drive from one side to the other of the city, everything is located easily, we still have beautiful parklands and green fringes surrounding the city and hills. we have some major infrastructure happening to improve our roads such as southern and port road expressways and the south road underpass. More will follow for sure. The tram, although seen as small and wastefull by some, has actually opened up the area of the city down north terrace that was dead apart from the uni. The "waste of money" tram is so busy they have to buy another carriage for it...

Too many people whinge about the lack of progress in adelaide. Go to sydney then, it will be worse. We're not perfect. Our trains are old. A north-south freeway would be great. But our industry is thriving (aside from mitsubishi), our agriculture remains strong, mining is booming. Everything is looking up for SA and Adelaide.

My thoughts only.

Title: Re: Are we a backwater????
Post by: Cameron Yelland on February 06, 2008, 04:34:29 PM
Just come to Mt Gambier where they knock back anything that even smells like progress!
Title: Re: Are we a backwater????
Post by: chook on February 06, 2008, 05:00:07 PM
Same here - Gilly agriculture fine? Not in our neck of the woods.
We will loose around 50 people (perms + labour hire) by the middle of the year.
Hospitals cut back, shops closing, lots of houses + fruit blocks for sale.
Yep things are great.
Anyway I've said enough (yep agree about Sydney, but you could get 24 hr everything :wink:)
cheers
Title: Re: Are we a backwater????
Post by: bajdas on February 06, 2008, 06:06:53 PM
I know everything needs to be checked and a compromise gained from all parties....but it takes soooo long from an idea to actually built.

I recently drove to Sydney for a week and have lived in Melbourne. Both are more exciting & vibrant than Adelaide (been down Rundle Mall on a public holiday or tried to get a cup of coffee after 11:30pm ??).

But Adelaide is different and not as hectic.

For example, the road underpasses...yes it looks better in the west parklands and Anzac highway...but it takes longer & costs more than an overpass.

Personally I hope they consider an overpass for other sections of South Road (eg Port, Torrens & Sturt road intersections).

The tram extension was quick and it works as a base for further expansion in the future.

The failure to build the Victoria Park grandstand is a disaster given the time to setup & dismantle the temporary stands.

The private sector is building commercial in the city very quickly (eg SA Water HQ in Victoria Square & around the Post Office).

The country areas & manufacturing are both struggling to change. This will cause pain and hopefully the people involved will find a solution by expanding to other industries (eg cropping, tourism, forestry for carbon credits, etc).

Personally, how to limit development in the northern suburbs (eg Pt Wakefield & beyond) for defence industry employees while supporting expansion south of the city (given many employees of Mitsu live at Noarlunga) is a challenge.
Title: Re: Are we a backwater????
Post by: 6739264 on February 06, 2008, 06:40:30 PM
Short Answer: Yes

Long Answer: Good god yes!

But is it a bad  thing? Nope. I like our state just the way it is.

Nice and quiet, not so much hustle and bustle...
Title: Re: Are we a backwater????
Post by: Zippy on February 06, 2008, 07:12:15 PM
Quote
The failure to build the Victoria Park grandstand is a disaster given the time to setup & dismantle the temporary stands.

I think it was a great thing it wasnt built...simply because the design of it was bad.

To cater for the crowd size of the Clipsal 500, you need the same amount of seating provided by Temporary Grandstands, this i believe was not met by the design of a multipurpose Grandstand.

(personally i care more about V8's than horses)
Title: Re: Are we a backwater????
Post by: bajdas on February 06, 2008, 07:55:50 PM
Quote
The failure to build the Victoria Park grandstand is a disaster given the time to setup & dismantle the temporary stands.

I think it was a great thing it wasnt built...simply because the design of it was bad.

To cater for the crowd size of the Clipsal 500, you need the same amount of seating provided by Temporary Grandstands, this i believe was not met by the design of a multipurpose Grandstand.

(personally i care more about V8's than horses)

Agreed...but the pit areas which contain the expensive/dangerous stuff gets built each year...and the temporary building cannot be used at other non-V8 race events.

It will be even more interesting when they expand the track length to the old F1 track so they can accomodate more grandstands. I thinbk they take six months now to build and dismantle, how long when they extend the track ? How many trucks bringing in supplies from interstate, etc, etc..

I think a compromise will be reached when the old buildings drop something on a persons head during a race.
Title: Re: Are we a backwater????
Post by: F.B.R.T on February 06, 2008, 09:46:26 PM
Just come to Mt Gambier where they knock back anything that even smells like progress!

Yep, spot on Cammo,
We get frequently told we are the busiest station out of Adelaide and we still don't have career 24/7 staffing............
Oh! that's right.......we are not a suburb of Adelaide :x
Title: Re: Are we a backwater????
Post by: rescue5271 on February 07, 2008, 09:12:11 AM
You guys in the mount should be fine now that you have bunnings 24 :lol: People dont like change in anything,if shop owners want to open 7 days aweek let them why hold back in the end the town or city will loss out...
Title: Re: Are we a backwater????
Post by: bittenyakka on February 07, 2008, 09:14:03 AM
I think the Victoria park stand was crap as it was a government corporate box and the state government didn't want to listen to council.

however although Adelaide doesn't have the culture of the eastern states it is still cheaper to live here and the traffic isn't that bad at all. and  of years ago i was up at the gold coast and all their shops closed at 4:30 so we really aern't that far behind.

Blinky: what shops want to open 7 days a week? if it is Myer then they just employ lots of staff and so what but it will make the small  one or two man jobs need to stay open as well or you will end up with a mish mash of shops open and closed.
Title: Re: Are we a backwater????
Post by: Katrina on February 07, 2008, 10:24:04 AM
Don't complain in the Mt.
Come up to Penola we are so backwater we don't even get on a map sometime - get anything??? The only reason Comms has computers is that someone donated them a few years back (though I have been told that we are getting some new ones) and we only got internet on several months ago (just look up the latest weather???? just fill those forms out on line????) And to get way off topic unless you are loaded you can't even get into the emergency department at our hospital ($140 normally and I think $170 after 11pm - and if you haven't got the money they pretty much kick you out the door)Okay rant over, I'm off to go and do something sensible before my head explodes
Backwater - can't believe people in Adelaide think that's the case, can't believe how lucky you are with everything available there
Okay I know calm down you are standing to rant again
Title: Re: Are we a backwater????
Post by: Darius on February 07, 2008, 11:55:54 AM
Short Answer: Yes
Long Answer: Good god yes!
But is it a bad  thing? Nope. I like our state just the way it is.
Nice and quiet, not so much hustle and bustle...

so I guess you are planning to move back at some stage.
(and yes SA is a backwater but who cares)
Title: Re: Are we a backwater????
Post by: sesroadcrashrescue on February 07, 2008, 01:18:47 PM
yes south australia is a backwater it is so far behind the rest of australia that its not even in there dust anymore my old town had people fight against getting a pedestrian crossing with stop lights at the high school (this was to make it safer for students to cross a main rd to get to ag and pe) as people didnt understand what they were. same with the other two school crossings the council wanted to make it safer for students to get and from school and classes and the public were against it so yeah its a back water 
Title: Re: Are we a backwater????
Post by: Alan (Big Al) on February 07, 2008, 02:07:02 PM
Don't complain in the Mt.
Come up to Penola we are so backwater we don't even get on a map sometime - get anything??? The only reason Comms has computers is that someone donated them a few years back (though I have been told that we are getting some new ones) and we only got internet on several months ago (just look up the latest weather???? just fill those forms out on line????) And to get way off topic unless you are loaded you can't even get into the emergency department at our hospital ($140 normally and I think $170 after 11pm - and if you haven't got the money they pretty much kick you out the door)Okay rant over, I'm off to go and do something sensible before my head explodes
Backwater - can't believe people in Adelaide think that's the case, can't believe how lucky you are with everything available there
Okay I know calm down you are standing to rant again

Ha ha my sister is a school teacher who's has just moved to penola, she says they like things the way they are and don't accept change all that quickly. :lol:
Title: Re: Are we a backwater????
Post by: Gilly on February 07, 2008, 03:06:00 PM
yes south australia is a backwater it is so far behind the rest of australia that its not even in there dust anymore my old town had people fight against getting a pedestrian crossing with stop lights at the high school (this was to make it safer for students to cross a main rd to get to ag and pe) as people didnt understand what they were. same with the other two school crossings the council wanted to make it safer for students to get and from school and classes and the public were against it so yeah its a back water 

SO victoria and NSW have automatic student teleporters across the road in their country towns...? We are not behind. We are smaller. And your old town is even smaller! Of course its going to appear behind.

The comment by our Victorian "friend" was made about Adelaide, not mt Gambier, or Greenpatch, or anywhere other than Adelaide for a start. Yes your small communtiy may be behind. But so are most small towns anywhere in Australia simply due to the size, money income, and demand for change.

Title: Re: Are we a backwater????
Post by: SA Firey on February 07, 2008, 03:27:24 PM
You will find some of the best fishing in a backwater :wink:

On your bike Brumby :evil:
Title: Re: Are we a backwater????
Post by: sesroadcrashrescue on February 07, 2008, 03:49:47 PM
yeah but adelaide is a backwater just like all of sa is. no matter where you go its all the same no progress god i used to go shopping with my family at 12am if we wanted to and in this state you can only shop till 9pm on a Thursday night and in some places Friday night as well so yes sa including adelaide is a back water bring on moving back to the east coast 
Title: Re: Are we a backwater????
Post by: Katrina on February 07, 2008, 04:00:59 PM

[/quote]

Ha ha my sister is a school teacher who's has just moved to penola, she says they like things the way they are and don't accept change all that quickly. :lol:
[/quote]

And there are people like that here (especially if you mix just within the one group) BUT there are also those of us who like new things, welcome them and are quite forward moving and modern thinking you just have to know where to find us don't you littlejohn?!
Title: Re: Are we a backwater????
Post by: rescue5271 on February 07, 2008, 05:56:16 PM
I better come to penola cheaper than naracoorte hospital or better still drive to the mount and only pay $20 to see a doc.....Sure there are something in the country that we pay for that city people dont,the cost of a visit to doctors here is done bt going to the public hospital you are seen by a nurse and if she feels you need to see a doctor she will call one in.But if she says its only small go see the duty doctor in the morning you still get slugged $180.00 just for her to tell me that...Now thats backwards.. But if you are a tourist and pass by you only get bulk billed......Time all hospitals had (a) there own doctors (b) free services like city hospitals...


Penola is a nice town will be intersting to see how the new supermarket goes when they start it and lets not forget Millicent here is a town that has a large employer but its shops all close at 5pm on a saturday.tuff if your a shift worker and tuff if your a tourist passing by......
Title: Re: Are we a backwater????
Post by: RescueHazmat on February 07, 2008, 05:57:53 PM
yeah but adelaide is a backwater just like all of sa is. no matter where you go its all the same no progress god i used to go shopping with my family at 12am if we wanted to and in this state you can only shop till 9pm on a Thursday night and in some places Friday night as well so yes sa including adelaide is a back water bring on moving back to the east coast 

Seeya!!
Title: Re: Are we a backwater????
Post by: uniden on February 07, 2008, 07:15:02 PM
Since when is hospital service more expensive in the country?? havent heard that one before.
Title: Re: Are we a backwater????
Post by: bajdas on February 07, 2008, 08:17:10 PM
Since when is hospital service more expensive in the country?? havent heard that one before.

I have not been to Noarlunga Hospital casualty for a year (kids asthma is OK at the moment), but they have never charged. If I try to go to the oncall GP service at Seaford, then I pay.

If it can wait, I go local GP at Seaford when they open in the morning.

When did paying for hospital emergency services come in ? or is this part of a after-hours General Practitioner service ?
Title: Re: Are we a backwater????
Post by: boredmatrix on February 07, 2008, 09:41:29 PM
Since when is hospital service more expensive in the country?? havent heard that one before.

I have not been to Noarlunga Hospital casualty for a year (kids asthma is OK at the moment), but they have never charged. If I try to go to the oncall GP service at Seaford, then I pay.

If it can wait, I go local GP at Seaford when they open in the morning.

When did paying for hospital emergency services come in ? or is this part of a after-hours General Practitioner service ?

you went to Noarlunga Hosp and came out alive? :-o
Title: Re: Are we a backwater????
Post by: bajdas on February 08, 2008, 05:54:31 AM
Since when is hospital service more expensive in the country?? havent heard that one before.

I have not been to Noarlunga Hospital casualty for a year (kids asthma is OK at the moment), but they have never charged. If I try to go to the oncall GP service at Seaford, then I pay.

If it can wait, I go local GP at Seaford when they open in the morning.

When did paying for hospital emergency services come in ? or is this part of a after-hours General Practitioner service ?

you went to Noarlunga Hosp and came out alive? :-o

Yep the operation went really well, hospital was great...emergency treats my kids well too.
Title: Re: Are we a backwater????
Post by: Katrina on February 08, 2008, 06:16:59 AM
When did paying for hospital emergency services come in ? or is this part of a after-hours General Practitioner service

Not sure how they do it but to go to the emergency department you must "cough up the cash" or bugger off and go elsewhere. It is such fun driving 50km with a child having an asthma attack and throwing up the whole way (yes we could have called an ambulance but I didn't consider it that serious and there was no one on duty in Penola, and Nangwarry was flat out helping Mt Gambier so was best to go myself) Okay now that I have got everyone way off here I better shut up and hop back into my little box and return to contemplating my navel
Title: Re: Are we a backwater????
Post by: sesroadcrashrescue on February 08, 2008, 10:30:08 AM
with our hospital you dont have to pay that night but you need to go to the medical practice the next working day and pay the gap so when i can i head to Elizabeth 24 hour clinic of the mac 
Title: Re: Are we a backwater????
Post by: Zippy on February 08, 2008, 03:50:29 PM
My rather freshly changed opinion of this topic is that,  While we have politican's of the like of Mike Rann AND who ever that guy on liberals is :P....Adelaide is gonna continue to be a *near*-Stagnate backwater.

Liberals current idea of a 20 year plan for South Australia includes  Duplication of the Southern Expressway, Controlling the Parklands, Building a new Stadium at the Railway yards instead of the Marj....

Why does everything need to be 20 years. We will all be 20 years older, and Mike Rann will be in a nursing home by the time everythings finished.
Title: Re: Are we a backwater????
Post by: CFS_Firey on February 08, 2008, 04:00:06 PM
Why does everything need to be 20 years. We will all be 20 years older, and Mike Rann will be in a nursing home by the time everythings finished.

Because if governments only look at the short term, they don't have to think about the consequences of what they're doing, and we end up worse than we started.
Just look at Mr Howards policy on climate change, and where we are now - if whatever government that was in power 20 years ago had acted then, things could be a whole lot better...  (or we'd be better prepared at least)
Title: Re: Are we a backwater????
Post by: Robert-Robert34 on February 08, 2008, 08:11:30 PM
I better come to penola cheaper than naracoorte hospital or better still drive to the mount and only pay $20 to see a doc.....Sure there are something in the country that we pay for that city people dont,the cost of a visit to doctors here is done bt going to the public hospital you are seen by a nurse and if she feels you need to see a doctor she will call one in.But if she says its only small go see the duty doctor in the morning you still get slugged $180.00 just for her to tell me that...Now thats backwards.. But if you are a tourist and pass by you only get bulk billed......Time all hospitals had (a) there own doctors (b) free services like city hospitals...


Penola is a nice town will be intersting to see how the new supermarket goes when they start it and lets not forget Millicent here is a town that has a large employer but its shops all close at 5pm on a saturday.tuff if your a shift worker and tuff if your a tourist passing by......


From re-collection when i had a really bad bout of Gastroenteritis several years back my parents took me to the Penola Hospital Accident and Emergency Department where a nurse sized up the situation then called in the on call doctor to fix me up.... im not sure if my mum was slugged the $180.00 or was bulk billed cause i do recall they needed a medicare card to write down info so its likely they bulk billed and we only got charged for the gap  :-) 
Title: Re: Are we a backwater????
Post by: boredmatrix on February 08, 2008, 08:58:29 PM
in the majority of rural SA - Docs aren't generally employed by country hospitals - the local GP's are only contracted to the hospital to provide emergency cover as required. (mt Gambier is an exception and has a HMO)

out in the sticks where I worked, the local docs got $700/day for their efforts - plus they billed the patients! 

at $255 500 - you'd think it'd be easier to employ a couple of docs for the hospital at $125000 each and not worry about the GP's!  At least you'd be guaranteed a doctor in the hospital at some point in the day!
Title: Re: Are we a backwater????
Post by: Katrina on February 08, 2008, 09:29:13 PM
Trust me Robert you don't want to try and get in the doors without the money now, this has only happened in the last 12 months (and as far as I can work out as it has already been changed to take alot of the old age care bed patients from mt gambier- that if they get less patients coming in through the emergency doors and less admitted by the local doctors then they can get their rating changed and just do aged care because it will show that the emergency department is no longer needed)
 :-) Can you guess this has been pushing my button slightly :? :? :?
Title: Re: Are we a backwater????
Post by: rescue5271 on February 09, 2008, 09:02:51 AM
We live in a country where education and hospital emergency cover is ment to be free,but it still cost us afew arms and legs and if you jump up and down and make waves they dont allow you to see a doctor.The problem is that we can't get doctors/nurses and any skilled workers to come to the country I know a of a couple of hospitals that have lost staff to the mine's as they pay a hell of a lot better....So are we in the backwaters or just a shortage of skilled workers...
Title: Re: Are we a backwater????
Post by: Alan J on March 10, 2008, 12:13:21 AM
"Backwater" is a highly emotive term used by person/s with an "agenda" - usually to spend other people's money on benefitting themselves.

SA is different to the more populous states.  It has different climate, different geography, different ways of doing things, different population pressures, different building materials. Most importantly, it is located at a different place on the planet & some things must necessarily happen differently.

However....Adelaide has the same lack of water (& breast-beating about lack of fore-thought on water infrastructure), the same pressure groups crying for preservation of some old stuff, or changing of other old stuff.  The whingers use exactly the same phrases to compare Melb/Syd/Bris/Perth with each other & overseas capitals.

The whole argument is therefore built on the falsehood that city "A" should somehow being bigger (more expensive) stuff than city "B".  I think it is a load of bollocks.  If someone really thinks Sydney / Melbourne / Brisbane / etc does things so much better, they should put their feet where their mouth is & move there.

And quit their belly-aching.

cheers
AJ
(former resident of Qld, Vic & Tas)


Title: Re: Are we a backwater????
Post by: SA Firey on March 13, 2008, 11:24:35 AM
But Alan we just want some of our intersate cousins RAIN :wink: