SECTIONS of Geelong big-name industry remain seemingly incapable of operating without being propped up by the taxpayer.
Alcoa and Ford, both long-time dependants, have been unable to provide the jobs successive government largesse was meant to keep.
These days it’s Avalon’s Jetstar operations, with a $12-million, 10-year handout that we’re told is essential to the region’s economic future.
In State Parliament this week, Industry Minister Lily D’Ambrosio put the deal at $241 a flight, which she described as “in anyone’s terms … a very good deal for Victorians”.
Better than the previous mob’s one-year deal costed at “over $1000 per flight”, she said.
Either way, something seems more than a little odd.
WHO knew there was a Centre of Excellence in Eating Disorders?
Now suffering an eating disorder is nothing to laugh about, but perhaps naming the organisation tasked with helping those who do might take some careful thought.
Being excellent at eating disorders is not something to be highlighted, Double Take would have thought.
Perhaps the Centre of Excellence in Eating Well might reflect the objectives a bit better.
FOR anyone who hasn’t had airbags go off in their car, word is they certainly get your attention.
Just ask city councillor Andy Richards, who’s thanking his lucky stars after a bingle on Latrobe Terrace recently.
No-one was injured but two cars were written off in the stack, he says.
No word on the status of the bags but we don’t think it’s good.
WHO says the Anzac spirit of courage in adversity isn’t still alive?Certainly not the homeless blokes who have been dossing down at the Johnstone Park War Memorial.
Seems the cyclone fencing around the new library heritage centre construction site has been offering some refuge from passersby.
IT might just be a crazy notion but Double Take can’t help wonder if it hasn’t found the solution to the Geelong Gaol impasse.
If it can’t be sold off and developed because of its heritage status why not revert to its heritage use and put prisoners back in the place?
Lord knows there’s no shortage of clientele looking for a berth inside.
VICTORIA’s most violent prisoners should be rationed to meat-free diets, according to an animal rights, group. But Double Take can’t see People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals members serving up vegan meals at Barwon Prison to inmates with the names of ’Badness’ or the killer ’General’.
Then again the late Chopper Read, a one-time inmate of the old Geelong gaol, had the moniker to be useful dicing up a salad. But after what he did to his ears, inmates would be checking that they were really olives in the mix.
PETA says not only is a plant-based diet less expensive, it also saves animals’ lives, protects prisoners from serious illnesses that can cost the state an arm and a leg to treat and is a great way to promote compassion and non-violence among inmates.
The reason many are in the maximum security unit is that they have already done damage to arms and legs – and that’s only their minor offences.
