Beattie's 4 minute shower timer is just like the Qld government ...

... too slow.

Updated ...

Seriously, you couldn't come up with better material if you were writing for a TV comedy show.

1 million defective timers from China = $1.7 million of taxpayers' money down the gurgler.

And Premier Beattie couldn't care less.

Maybe he thought the timers were made in South Korea.

You're better off using the 4350water blog shower timer (in the right hand column).

Guaranteed more accurate than Pete's dodgy imports ...

Excerpt from the Courier Mail:

Shower savings down the gurgler

30 May 2007

In a public relations disaster for the commission, timers purchased by the State Government for its Target 140 campaign – which aims to cut residents' water use to 140 litres a day – allow water to pour down the plughole like sand through the hourglass.

Residents have discovered many of the four-minute timers are wildly inaccurate.

The Chinese-made timers will be mailed to 1.1 million southeast Queenslanders at a cost of $1.7 million, or about $1.50 each including postage.

Tests conducted by The Courier-Mail found the four-minute timers' performance ranged from 3min 23sec to 7min 45sec.

One ran to 3min 56sec but when turned over went to 4min 26sec.

Others failed to work, as Logan Mayor Graham Able found out. Cr Able said his simply "fell apart".
...

See - Courier Mail -shower savings down the gurgler.

.. too slow.

That's the rumour anyway.

Excerpt from the Courier Mail:

Rain but no dam relief

29 May 2007

...
Meanwhile, concerns have been raised about the accuracy of the four-minute shower timers. The timers aim to cut the average shower time from seven to four minutes. One will be mailed to each home tomorrow.

But Premier Beattie downplayed the claims and said he had heard only a handful of complaints.


As the timers won't be mailed out until tomorrow, it's not surprising that there have only been a handful of complaints. Probably from QWC workers who have been timing their (over)boiled eggs by them.

More than one million QWC household packs will be mailed to households. That's one million 4 minute timers which won't accurately show when 4 minutes is up. Most likely purchased from China just like Anna Bligh's defective SEQ grid pipes.

Most of the timers are likely to end up either in the bin or a drawer so it's unlikely we'll ever get a real feel for just how many are defective. With the SEQ pipes to be buried, the Qld government will be hoping SEQ residents similarly never get a real understanding for how defective it may be ...