Sunday 5 April 2009

One rule for them

I'm sure everyone has encountered the curb-side Nazis during a visit to the confusing Cairns Airport.

A CairnsBlog reader flicked me a photo today, as he wondered why there were cars double-parked alongside a police vehicle. This is where the 'drop off, don't park' zone is. Easy, there was no one in the copper's car!
"I watched for 20 minutes, and there was no one around," my correspondent said. "To verify this, Jetstar was 20 minutes late this morning, and the obstructing vehicle was not moved on."
There's usually failed Council parking officers crawling all over the place, along with a 'NO PARKING - Driver must be in attendance' signs everywhere.
I understand they can't ticket the boys in blue as Commonwealth law overrides the State.

12 comments:

T. Asquith said...

Be reasonable Michael, the para-military who parked that armoured car were undertaking a dangerous mission to Burger King. That terminal contains a dangerous mix of Oral-B, nail clippers and knitting needles.

Michael P Moore said...

You made me laugh out loud Tom!

Mike

Councia said...

Girls, girls, girls.

Is this blog just for your private amusement?

Is everything a conspiracy, Michael? Your criticism of every authority figure is getting pretty tiresome.

Julie Swanson, Palm Cove said...

Councia, I have a suggestion: bugger off and be pissed off elsewhere.

Noj Nedlaw said...

Councia
You miss the point - it is Michael's Blog - and as such the rest of us are guests tagging along. None of us are forced to remain.
Perhaps its time for "Councia you are the weakest link, goodbye!"

Michael P Moore said...

Councia. You'll find it difficult to spot conspiracies on my Blog. Merely questions to spark debate and share my views from where I sit. What exactly bothers you my dear girl?

Cairns resident said...

**PLEASE POST COMMENTS WITH YOUR NAME***

***ANON COMMENTS WILL BE REMOVED***

Councia -- You're saying that the police shouldn't be accountable for breaking the same rules regular folk are?

Councia said...

Cairns resident,

That's exactly what I'm saying. It's a police vehicle, being driven by on-duty police officers. Who are you, and who is Michael Moore, to question the veracity of where they've decided to park?

If they've nabbed a crim, are they supposed to walk them thru the parking lot to a paid parking spot? Are you people just nuts, or what? Next thing you're going to expect them to drive the speed limit when attending a crime in progress!

I expect this anti-police, anti-authority diatribe from Bryan Law. I expect police to act reasonably. I see nothing in this story to suggest otherwise, other than some bleeding heart that's been inconvenienced.

tanstaafl said...

Tanstaafl says.

Hey Councia. The air wing for collection of officers and prisoners is in General Aviation, and accessible from Captain Cook Highway.

The regular cars for attendance for disturbances and threats are very sleek and FAST modern cars. Not a four wheel drive. Parked illegally to merely await a friend or mate from remote area.

Lillian at Yorkeys said...

Tanstaafl above - thank you for clarifying the situation for Concia & us all. I think the overall problem for all of us trying - and I use the word TRYING - to use the airport, is currently the constant changes due to the redevelopment, & the ongoing nastiness & over-officiality of the Parking Nazis.

I dropped off a friend and her husband the other morning. My friend has motor-neurone disease and needs to use a wheelchair. We made it through the metal pass-by, as we declared we had a disabled person & sticker to accompany her. Next we drew up to what looked like a drop-off point, & proceeded to get friend into wheelchair, husband & baggage sorted, in a matter of minutes. Kisses & we were all ready to go. BUT - there was the Parking Nazi -very unpleasantly, & of course with his sunglasses in place to reduce any eye contact: "Disabled parking is around the corner", you'll have to move", he said. We pointed out that friend, wheelchair, husband all sorted, & that we'd know where new parking spaces are for next time. I had inadvertently parked for all of 4 minutes in a taxi zone. Shock, horror. "I could fine you", he said, "but I'll leave it this time".

The last time I dropped them off was only about six weeks ago, and it was again different. The airport is reconfiguring so quickly at present.

OK, we got through it, & the Parking Nazi will have to work his way through his karma & unpleasantness.

However, we once had an easy-to-use airport, where we could easily drop people off, without harassment or unpleasantness from PNs, & go about our way.

And where does it go that taxis have priority over disabled people? I would ask.

I don't think Concia, that Mike has any conspiracy theories involved in the blog - he just reports on what's going on around town.

However, the airport & PNs is an ongoing problem. As a tourist town, these experiences may be the first or last impression a tourist has of Cairns. We could be welcoming & farewelling them with leis & music. Instead, we have grumpy, self-aggrandising PNs with sunnies & attitude. Not good enough. One famous PN I've had a couple of unlovely exchanges with, well his last job was as a cleaner at the Smithfield Centre - not that there is anything wrong with cleaners, but get the point.

A girlfriend of mine recently was dropping off her boyfriend at the airport ahead of a month's work stint in Melbourne, & they were having a kiss. Not a 'get a room' kiss, just a deep airport kiss. A PN came up & told them to move on, & that they "should have done that at home". PHHUUlllease.

Airports are for people to use - 99.99% of us are not terrorists, we are just people, who pay our taxes, who just want to use the airport as citizens in peace.

And Mike - just get the blasted 'Anon' option off the signature screen. For all of us, pleasssseee.

Paul said...

Lillian, it's no longer about security (if it ever was) its about conditioning us to accept more and more authoritarian intrusion into our daily lives. Just be glad we haven't yet followed the Americans fully down the "Homeland Security" road yet, coz if you think this is bad now....

Noj Nedlaw said...

...or Paul and Lillian, down the British road where there seems to be epidemic of CCTV's. In 2006 it was estimated that there were 4.2 million CCTV's in the UK - about 1 for every 14 people. Just look at the various UK crime shows - seems the movements of a suspect can always be traced by CCTV. OK the shows are fiction - but is the reality too far off? A reality of integration of all these cameras to monitor every aspect of ones existence. Kinda scary!

Check out this link:-
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6108496.stm

I wonder what the numbers of CCTV are in Australia? Does anyone know?