Apec Sucks

[South]

So you're saying that if I call Zap out, I'll be paying extra? And if I was in business, then I'd do the same and charge a little more when you came along to buy something from me?

Doesn't that mean that we're all (ie end consumers) ultimately paying for this ? So this is like an APEC tax?

Yes, if you call someone out on a public holiday or a forced holiday, then you should be charged extra for that... Employers pay their employees the normal rate for public holidays when the employee takes the day off, should the employee work on the public holiday then the employer pays loading, be it 1.5 or 2 times the normal rate.

The same goes for the clients, should it be a public holiday that the client chooses to work on, then it is going to cost them extra, so that the business continues to make the same margin.

Zap's IT business would not be charging extra for the goods that you are buying on a public holiday (unlike takeaway stores to name but one), however his services would/should be charged at a higher rate on public holidays.

Buying goods is not the same as buying services...

Edited 03/09/07 12:37 PM by South

[ZAP]

Yep, if one of our Sydney clients wanted help on Friday it would be VERY expensive.

My problem is all the non Sydney people that we support that cannot be charged extra as it is a Sydney only holiday.

This is in our T&C that only NSW public holidays are recognised as there has never been a Sydney only holiday.

Meh, I guess I am just annoyed that I have to pay for stupid politicians to exploit our city, when there are better alternatives.

[iTec]

and why the farg do we need a giant big sign on the bridge saying APEC... any body got a fluro set that says SUX I could gaffa tap under it?

[XF Falcon]

haha I saw that big sign on the bridge.

we need it cos it costs money, and its there just incase any of the world leaders forget what they are here for!

[BF_Turbo]

Bush is having a stop over in iraq I heard on the way here... should be interesting..

[tmac450]

Sorry guys but Sydney is a hole.

Can't argue with that. I personally think all cities suck, and avoid them as much as possible.

Problem is, that many people in the world like cities, and like it or not, Sydney is recogniseable on a global scale, thanks to the Harbour Bridge and Opera House, many tourists beleive it's the best we've got.

For me, the best thing about Sydney is the road out.

Edited 03/09/07 11:02 PM by tmac450

[Cro]

I wonder how much it costs the NSW government to keep 30+ HWP cars parked at the Patricks wharfes....

I can see a massive drop in traffic related fines over the next week.

[ms700]

Hey, whilever they are there, they aren't chasing you!

[BFHOON]

I heard the chaser <comedy show> got some hummers and had a fake motorcade today and got past 2 check points and a guy dressed as osama binladen hopped out and was arrested real quick

it made 2 years of security planning look like a kids birthday party.

[ZAP]

Two of The Chaser team have been detained after conducting a fake motorcade through the city this morning.

Police have detained Chas Licciardello and Chaser executive producer Julian Morrow at the InterContinental hotel.

Lawyers for the ABC are in discussions with police.

Chaser team member Chris Taylor said the motorcade comprised "three cars, a couple of motorbikes, and a lot of crew".

"It was a motorcade trying to get into the exclusion zone," he said.

Chaser crew members were initially detained in their cars while "police on the ground'' waited for special units to arrive, he said.

US President George Bush's motorcade swept through the city to Darling Harbour this morning.

The NSW Minister for Transport, John Watkins, warned Sydneysiders that most of the disruptions due to motorcades were yet to come.

"Between 3pm and 7.30pm today, there will be 92 motorcade movements around the city," he said.

Between 4pm and 7.30pm there would be motorcades from the airport for delegations from Canada, Vietnam and the director-general of APEC.

The Chaser convoy had been dressed up to look like an official Canadian motorcade, with Canadian flags attached to the cars and "Canada'' signs visible in the front windscreen.

"No particular reason we chose Canada," said Taylor. "We just thought they'd be a country who the cops wouldn't scrutinise too closely, and who feasibly would only have three cars in their motorcade - as opposed to the 20 or so gas guzzlers that Bush has brought with him."

The motorcade got into the red zone, past two sets of gates.

It was pulled over on the corner of Bridge and Macquarie streets.

Taylor said the Chaser duo had been taken to Surry Hills police station.

Police superintendent Ken McKay confirmed the pair had been arrested for breaching the restricted zone.

The arrests had been made using new powers available under the APEC Act, he said.

Police Media are preparing a statement on the incident.

- with David Braithwaite and Andrew Meares