An Important Update Regarding MLC Frank Pangallo And ICAC

Howdy and welcome to a super-short and entirely self-explanatory post..getting very 'meta' here by re-posting my own Facebook post about my letter replying to Frank's threat text...have at it...***

Hi,
An important update re a recent post.
Mid-afternoon, Sunday 16th March 2025 I received this text (below) from MLC (Member Legislative Council -South Australian Parliament) Frank Pangallo.
I have contacted Mr Pangallo today via email for clarification;

Dear Frank,
I refer to your text message received at 1535hrs on Sunday afternoon 16th March 2025, as copied here for reference;

Hi Nick.
How did you go with digging out those documents for me?
I have just read your blog Nick.
It is seriously defamatory.
I advise you withdraw those comments and apologise.
Frank Pangallo.

What other “documents” are you referring to?
Or are you referring to the dossier of documents re my prosecution by ICAC/SAPol (and attached 7-page index) I provided you a year ago by registered post, at your request, after you first phoned me on 8th March 2024?
I have not heard from you since April 2024, and you returned those documents to me several weeks ago via standard post, without any note/text/explanation why, or as to why you’ve failed to act, etc.
Again, what other “documents” are you referring to?
Your general statement about my blog, The Mount Gambier Independent, is very vague and does not identify what content you consider to be “seriously defamatory”.
What are the specific comments you advise me to withdraw and apologise for?
Yours, Nick Fletcher.

It is an extraordinarily serious matter that a MLC would threaten a private citizen like this, let alone do it on a Sunday arvo.
If and when I get a response from Mr Pangallo I'll post.
Cheers, Nick.

***And that's all...if you need any/more info then just have a wee tool-about on this 'ere blog, most if not all the info you might need is lurking furtively here-in...  

Tomorrow: But More Likely Next Month

Obviously haven't stopped TMGI altogether, but very much enjoying being able to spend extended time away from it without feeling 'guilty' that I should somehow be doing more..

I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers and laters...

 

Open Letter To The Residents & Ratepayers Of Mt Gambier & Districts

 Hi, hope you're all well and stayin' cool if that's your thing, etc etc...short post, not least of all 'cos I just can't be bothered right this moment to do more...(also, everything here-in is effectively a reference to multiple other posts on said issue/topic-Ed)...well exactly, and in that vein, let us open with this cut-'n'-pasted 'Reply/Comment' I left this morning on the Most Excellent Mt Gambier & Districts Residents and Ratepayers Association Facebook page...(I've included the MEMGDRRA 'Comment' for context-Ed)...cheers, good idea...***

MEMGDRRA 'Comment'

Unfortunately this is the case. The ability to investigate, remove them and place the Council under administration is purely up to the Minister. Comments on here about community "vote of no-confidence", "petitions" etc. are not readily applicable. People need to write directly to the Councillors to express their displeasure and then vote them out if they don't get adequate responses. Sad but true!

My 'Reply/Comment' 

Mount Gambier & District Residents and Ratepayers Association Inc. Apologies for repeating myself, but in late 2013 I submitted official, document-supported reports/complaints to Don Pegler (then Member for Mt Gambier) and the Ombudsman re some of the litany of 'Corrupt' actions by Mt Gambier City Council, eg, Insider Trading, Nepotism, Theft, that I'd witnessed while attending MGCC meetings, etc. By law those reports had to be sent to ICAC, who then did almost nothing before completely exonerating MGCC. ICAC and SAPOl then came after me via SAPol 'Operation Baritone', raiding my home, changing the ICAC Act to prosecute me in a 4 year trial, etc etc, before 'Convicting' me in my absence. 'The Minister' knows exactly what diabolical financial trouble MGCC/Ratepayers are in, and exactly how they/We got here, and that's exactly why 'The Minister' will never act. The last thing the State Government wants to do is bail-out Mt Gambier. Cheers, Nick. 

***And that right there pretty-much sums it all up, albeit it in a very polite 'Facebooky' sort of way...regular availees will understand why for me, it's a very short, very thick, very dark line between any 'Corruption' issue and the St Martins Lutheran School Child Abuse Cover-up...(oh, did I mention? they've put out a book, last year I reckon, celebrating 40 years of St Martins-Ed)...have they..(yes indeed they have-Ed)...well bully for them...anything for 2002?...(well certainly nothing about sacking teacher Glyn Dorling for grooming and physically abusing the 7 year olds in that class, and then acting to cover-up that abuse, etc-Ed)...well I'm sure it's just an unfortunate oversight and they'll acknowledge the truth in the 80 years edition...regular availees will also understand from the tone and content, that we here at TMGI The Blog are not in a particularly good mood today...(mood schmood, it changes nothing of the factual accuracy of the content, merely steers the phrasing somewhat toward the ribaldly direct-Ed)..."ribaldly direct", nice, but Language Warning, I'm not sure that saying "they've fucked everything beyond repair" is strictly 'ribald'...(well cooeee Capt Pedantic-Ed)...let's move on...oh, and End Language Warning...

1) It's Too Late Baby Now It's Too Late:...the damage is done long, long ago...going back across at least 2 decades, I have personally witnessed the relentless, Institutionalised Corruption of Mt Gambier City Council, so there's a vast history of Corruption in MGCC, in the Elected Members, in MGCC's senior paid staff, and a resultant litany of Insider Trading, Nepotism, Fraud, Maladministration, etc, before you even get to Wulanda...

2) That Shizzle Has Sailed:...Mt Gambier's new 'Outdoor 50m Pool' reminds me of an Aussie beach...(how so?-Ed)...well from above it looks it's sunbathing topless in a thong...(aha, is that a witty reference to the fact that there's only a tiny strip of shade-sail awning over the shallow end and the rest is entirely exposed to wind/rain/cancer-causing UV, that sortta' stuff?-Ed)...yep, all anybody really wanted was an 'Indoor 50m Pool', and $100+million later, there's no cover and it's still closed half the year due to heating/running costs...(and that money is long gone but the debt will remain for the foreseeable forever, and all the MGCC lies/deceits/gaslighting and gross Maladministration, all of that, it's all done-Ed)...indeed it is, now all that remains is the continuing MGCC deceits/lies/maladministration, the upward-spiralling debt, and all the associated secrecy, etc etc...

3) No-one Is Coming To Save You:...certainly not the pathetic 'Minister', who-evs that is this week...besides, these stooges are all the same animal, and they all know, Labor/Liberal/Alleged Independent/whatevs, you don't get allowed into the barrel of monkeys that is the South Australian Parliament unless you're already rotten, unless you play the game their way, unless you are complicit...

And if y'all think I'm being a bit heavy-handed with the 'complicit' stuff, bear with me, we'll get there...I routinely go back and read old posts, get a few paragraphs in and go 'strewth, angry old man much'...(but then get a few paragraphs further and quickly re-evaluate to, 'strewth, no wonder you're angry'?-Ed)...precisely, as cathartic as it can be to get some of this stuff out there, re-reading can be re-traumatising...but we digress... 

4) Run For Council:...off ya' trot, best of luck to ya's...it's a carefully 'fixed' Liberal-dominated structure and once on there you will toe-the-line/remain silent/be rendered complicit, or be subjected to bullying/harassment/actual legal threats from MGCC...three potential candidates have asked my advice on running, and I pointed them to MGCC's very chequered history of Corruption, but more importantly, the MGCC 'Secrecy Provisions'...(as I understand it that includes Councillors being required to officially 'Log' any random convo they have with some random down the street or at the supermarket, etc-Ed)...terrific, but I was referring to the much more concerning and very specific 'Gaol Time For Talking About Council Business' provisions...(oh it's all fabulous stuff, and all done in the best possible taste-Ed)...sure, and each of those 3 came back to me and said 'thanks, I had no idea, I ain't stickin' my beautiful neck in that noose'...(that's a very specific sentence for 3 unrelated randoms to say-Ed)...paraphrasing mate...

5) Wouldn't Touch It With A Ten Foot Pole:...MGCC has such an appalling reputation that no-one who truly understands wants to be dragged into it...there wasn't a single candidate for Mayor last election, only the incumbent, so no-one got to vote for or against anyone at all...and this 'No Candidates', it wasn't a glowing acknowledgement marking years of high achievement, stunning success, it was straight-out 'I ain't touchin' that'...(the year you ran for Mayor, was it 2014?-Ed)...yep, 2014...(10 years ago now, wow...anyway, in 2014 how many candidates?-Ed)...8...(8?-Ed)...yeah 8, me included, and 2 serving Councillors, 5 others...and point there is, some people have said that I should've run for Councillor instead and I'd have likely got in...(but then as a Councillor you'd have been effectively silenced, upto and including having to stop this 'ere blog, by MGCC's extraordinary, self-imposed 'Capital' sanctions re even discussing MGCC business-Ed)...as I explained, and each person has conceded that as validating my unlikely tilt at Mayordom-ness rather than Councillor...  

6) Did We Mention 'Complicit'?-...'cos that's arguably the biggest hurdle that anyone faces when trying to address MGCC's Institutionalised Corruption, how complicit everyone else is...take for example, the South Australian Independent Commission Against Corruption...(I got this, as described above, and in multiple posts on TMGI The Blog and TMGI Facebook, the ICAC, under the specific direction of Commissioner Bruce Lander, did a 1-hour/2-chats 'investigation' of MGCC, nothing recorded, no hearings, no Elected Members even spoken to, etc, then completely exonerated MGCC of any and all 'Corruption'-Ed)...and then...(and then, under the specific control/direction of Comm Lander, ICAC investigated you/us/this 'ere blog, and then Comm Lander directly personally referred you/us/this 'ere blog to SAPol's Anti-Corruption Branch-Ed)...and then?...(and then SAPol 'Operation Baritone' specifically about you/us/this 'ere blog, 4 years in Court being prosecuted by SAPol, etc etc etc-Ed)...yeah fair enough, it's all here in other posts if y'all wanna' read more detail...

So when 'sorting-out' the problems with the FARC, you not only have to sort-out all of MGCC's Corruption, but you also have to sort-out the levels of corruption demonstrated by, for example, ICAC and it's unequivocal protection of and support for MGCC's Corruption...

And I'll go a step further and state that my 'Conviction', as it happened in February 2018, was the ICAC giving MGCC a big fat green-light to indulge in even more rampant Corruption, and that it is no coincidence that literally that week in February 2018 Liberal MP Tony Pasin, former MGCC Councillor and himself directly complicit in MGCC's Corrupt Conduct, that's when Tony started his now notorious 'Mt Gambier Must Have An Indoor Pool' campaign...(big call, but fair-Ed)...yes it is...

I genuinely believe that all involved were simultaneously celebrating and congratulating themselves, etc, thinking that with my 'Conviction' TMGI was effectively over, would be shutdown by the Court, etc...(and/or that you'd give up, but yeah, the trial farce was definably about shutting-up you/us/this 'ere blog-Ed)...and that this 'Conviction' and forced silence meant open slather on even more intense, voluminous MGCC Corruption..(and here comes Tony's $39.1m Indoor Pool that realises as a $100+m debasco (debacle/fiasco)-Ed)...yep...(yeah, it is an extraordinary coincidence of timing-Ed)...well, as I'm stating here, I don't believe there is any coincidence at all... 

So I lay-down this specific but very simple challenge to any Mt Gambier City Council Elected Member, past or present...and I don't wanna' hear "oh gee whiz I would, really I would, but MGCC has reams of really strict 'Secrecy/Confidentiality' rules"...(but they do have reams of rules-Ed)...sure, but what I do want to see/hear is one single person publicly state that it's not appropriate for MGCC to utilise 'Secrecy Clauses' and alleged 'Commercial Confidentiality' to effectively hide the truth about the cost of the FARC (Farcical Aquatic Recreation Centre)...(sometimes called Wulanda-Ed)...fine, Wulanda...(or 'The White Elephant'-Ed)...okay...(or the 'Oh My God What Have We Done!'-Ed)...you done? yeah? and I know I'm wasting both our's time dear availee even raising this challenge, 'cos it just ain't gunna' happen...

Language Warning:...I'll give a singular fuck if and when one of these fine upstanding members of our beloved City, all of whom supposedly love our beloved City the mostest, like totes love it, when one says enough is enough, and quits...when a current Mt Gambier City Council Elected Member quits, then I'll stop using catch-all terms like 'Complicit'...End Language Warning... 

And to the Residents & Ratepayers and associated other Citizens, I'm not advocating giving-up, quite the contrary, have at it good Madams and/or Sirs, MGCC deserve everything they cop, but I want everyone to be intimately awares of what and or whom you all are up against when trying to get a straight answer...(indeed any answer-Ed)...from Mt Gambier City Council, let alone that they be held accountable for their conduct...please do carry forward, be concerned/frustrated/incensed, but never resigned, never ever give-in...in the immortal words of that great woman and/or man, "don't give the bastards the satisfaction"...(I believe it was Ghandi-Ed)...no it wasn't you idiot...

Tomorrow: Gourd Knows

Nah seriously, only certainty is that it's not likely 'tomorrow' at all, rather, see you in April sort of thing...TMGI The Blog still is, obviously, but TMGI Facebook is more regular...

I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers and laters... 

MLC Frank Pangallo - Just Another Pro-Paedophile Corrupt South Australian Politician

 Hi dear availees, the title somewhat gives it away, but here's a copy of the statement I just posted on TMGI Facebook page...it's all rather self-explanatory...

Hi,
Regular availees of TMGI will recall that in March 2024 South Australian politician MLC Frank Pangallo contacted me desperate for any info/documents I could provide him that might support/prove statements he'd made in the Parliament (and hence on the Hansard) in February 2024.
Those statements related to my "bizarre trial" (The Border Watch) 2015-18 re my alleged breaches of the SA ICAC Act 2012 sec56 (a&b).
In response the (then) ICAC Commissioner Ann Vanstone then did an official ICAC 'Right of Reply' to the Parliament (again on Hansard 7Mar24) in which she named me 11 times and used the terms "patently false" and "wholly unfounded".
As you know I spent a solid week compiling a thorough but not exhaustive dossier with attached detailed index for Mr Pangallo.
This dossier conclusively proves that the ICAC denials/denigration are wrong, eg, 1) I was investigated by ICAC who 2) directly referred me to SAPol Anti-Corruption, and 3) ICAC was directly involved in my prosecution (by SAPol Prosecutions Branch).
This dossier/index was an expansion/continuation/recount of the testimony and tabled documents I provided Mr Pangallo's 'Parliamentary Inquiry into ICAC Investigation Harms and Adverse Outcomes' two years earlier.
Despite his original contacts and statements about the urgency of the matter (Mar24) I've heard nothing from ol' mate Frank.
Then Friday evening (31Jan25) there in my letterbox is a large orange envelope with my dossier.
Not even a secure registered satchel or anything, just $6 worth of stamps on a grotty old envelope.
And not one word; not a note, not a text, not an email of explanation and/or thanks, not nuthin'.
Mr Pangallo got what he needed to protect himself and that's all he needed/ wanted.
Mr Pangallo has had irrefutable proof in his hands that his arch-nemesis 'The ICAC' has repeatedly, provably lied to the SA Parliament, and he's chosen to sit on that info for nearly a year, then just dumped it back to me, without a single word.
Mr Pangallo is exactly what he appears to be, but I won't publish here what I think, you'll have to go to TMGI The Blog for that.
Cheers, Nick. 

Frank Pangallo is arguably the most complicit of all SA politicians in the St Martins Lutheran School Child Abuse Cover-up, because he has one of if not the most thorough understandings of any politician of exactly what's happened at St Martins.

For example, when he was the producer of Adelaide's Channel7 'Today Tonight', I contacted then provided him with various documents, etc, re the St Martins Cover-up, on at least 3 different occasions across several years...each time he was gunna' look at it but then never responded, etc...

And then his 'ICAC Inquiry', and now this...

Frank has supposedly been unwell, but that hasn't stopped him mouthing-off in the Parliament regularly, eg, in vehement support of the murderous Zionist Israel as it commits Genocide in Gaza...got time/energy for that sortta' bollocks, but can't find the same for exposing how corrupt SA ICAC is, which is odd 'cos he's also constantly mouthing-off about how corrupt ICAC is, etc... 

Tomorrow: That FARC Debasco Kicks Into High Gear

I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers and laters... 

 

 

  

Just To Kick Things Off For TMGI 2025

Hi dear availees, welcome to what I...(we-Ed)...to what we believe is the post that indicates that TMGI is an on-going venture...despite my...(our-Ed)...despite our attempts to drop and/or get over it, as a paradigm of simply functioning, it has become self-perpetuating...(that is, the fact that it exists, and for over a decade now, and for what exists on it, it becomes something that a) needs to be done, and b) we don't know how to not do-Ed)...indeed, and it's partly driven by a sense of guilt that to identify all of these things/issues as we have on TMGI, but to then/ever just walk away from it, is to be 'complicit'...complicit in the way we've seen so many conduct themselves...(yes, complicit by way of knowing but then turning away 'cos it's all a bit too difficult, all a bit too inconvenient-Ed)...exactly, so it's not about being better and/or worse than anyone else, it's just the way of things...

So TMGI The Blog will continue in some form, but, having said that, today's post is just several posts copied across from TMGI Facebook, but I/we'll get straight onto that first proper post, a review of Mt Gambier City Council's appalling misconduct re the Wulanda (Farcical Aquatic Recreation Centre-FARC) and the diabolical situation Mt Gambier Ratepayers find themselves in thusly...

Facebook 22 Dec 24  SALGA Election Changes

Hi,
Love to get on here some time with jolly news, but today ain't gunna' be that day.
Stunned but not surprised but deeply, deeply concerned to read on the most excellent Mt Gambier & Districts Residents & Ratepayers Association Facebook page that the SA Local Government Assoc has endorsed a Motion petitioning the SA government to change the date of the next Local Government Elections due in November 2026, thus likely extending the term of incumbent Councils, to a date as yet unidentified.
Here is the only mention I could find of this extraordinary move by the SALGA, as cut-'n'-pasted directly from their webpage news feed;
"endorsing the sector's position that council elections should be held in a different year to the state election."
And that's quietly, neatly tucked in at Dot Point 4, just a casual afterthought really.
(Dot Point 1 is "changes to single garage and carport sizes".)
Such massive and fundamental changes that affect the very structure of the actual Election Process, threaten to undermine what tattered remnants of an actual Democracy we still have.
And I get to say that 'cos 1) we're all victims of the entrenched 'Two-Party System', and 2) I'm a private citizen who has been attacked and prosecuted by the collective efforts of ICAC/SAPol/Parliament and the Courts.
I've lived/been subjected to the reality of what a thin veneer the word 'Democracy' is in it's real-world application in SA.
And what lies immediately beneath that veneer is very, very ugly.
And why hasn't this massive Election Shifting news been reported in the SA media, least ways not that I could find?
Why hasn't The Ambulance Chaser 'altruistically' informed their loyal subscribers?
The most excellent MGDRRA found it! And so can yous, here's the link to the SALGA;
https://www.lga.sa.gov.au/news-and-events/news/latest-news/2024/local-leaders-vote-on-key-policies-at-lga-annual-general-meeting
I also then found this on Premier Malinauskis' page, re 'Public Consultation' earlier this year, link also below;
"Timing of council elections is another hot topic – suggestions include a two-year gap from state elections to follow the same alternating pattern as the Summer and Winter Olympics to combat voter fatigue, while one-in-four of those surveyed want both elections to be held on the same day to maximise turnout."
https://www.premier.sa.gov.au/media-releases/news-archive/final-week-to-shape-council-elections-reform
Same day as State Elections makes perfect sense, and only shortens the current term by 8 months, tick and tick.
But the SALGA, the "sector", they endorsed a motion for "a different year", potentially a two year gap from state elections, which places the next proposed LG Election at March 2028, a 15 month extension.
And yes, it is the casual passing mention and lack of subsequent reporting that's really got me spooked.
Where this is headed specifically I don't know, but there's something really, really wrong with this.
I note that this 'Motion' occurs at a time when Mt Gambier City Council is besieged by the fall-out of their own incompetence, hubris, and open contempt for Ratepayers/Citizens, and the formation and success of the MEMGDRRA is the undeniable proof.
Cheers, Nick.

Defamation Morello Ambush   28 Dec 24

Hi,
Much mirth was had the other day recalling/re-telling my fav 'Defamation Threat' story.
Sure I've got reams of threats from lawyers, government depts and the Crown Solicitor, etc, but this is a li'l story I like to call, 'The Jellyfish That Grew A Spine and Roared Like A Mouse From It's Ivory Tower'. Enjoy.
Last item of the evening, Mt Gambier City Council meeting (August? 2017) and MGCC Cr Frank Pangallo declares a 'Conflict' and leaves the Chamber.
Next comes the 'Eject Public for Secret Business' stage of proceedings so I leave, and as I'm crossing the foyer, old mate Frank walks straight at me.
He starts goin' at me that 'my lawyer says you've defamed me' (re statements on TMGI The Blog) and demanding I 'remove it', etc.
I laughed at him, saying, 'mate, if you had anything I'd be hearing from your lawyer, perhaps don't be complicit in covering-up Child Abuse.'
Knowing he'd failed with his vacuous threat, Frank went with "You're not well Nick, you're not well."
So thus far, we have a MGCC Councillor ambush/harass/threaten, and then denigrate/abuse a private citizen, during/at a MGCC official meeting.
As ol' mate Frank slunk back into the Ivory Tower (the Chamber) out the door came Nick Serle, Cr Mark Lovett and CEO Mark McShane.
I had a last parting shot at Frank about 'covering-up the abuse of my child and dozens of others', and because I didn't back-off, the 3 stooges a) walked right into that spray, and 2) were stuck in the entrance alcove/doorway.
Lovett kept telling me to "just leave" whilst doing a hilarious impersonation of being intimidating, and Serle, who had started-out glaring at me, immediately realised what he'd walked into and was staring sheepishly at the floor.
McShane twice made thinly-veiled threats re the gym we both attended, where he had also attempted several provocations, eg, walking at me, etc..
My official complaints re this ambush/abuse were returned by the Minister to/for CEO McShane to resolve, even though he was named as a perpetrator.
I'm still waiting for a response.
This is just one of multiple instances where MGCC personnel, upto and including 'the Mayor' have harassed/attacked/threatened me at MGCC meetings, but sure, it's their precious Councillors who need body guards at meetings; pathetic, cowardly, laughable.
Cheers, Nick.

Facebook 21 Jan 25 re MGDRRA & Wulanda

 Hi,
In reference to the latest (today 20 Jan 25) post on the Most Excellent Mt Gambier & Districts Residents & Ratepayers Assoc Facebook page, and their story re Mt Gambier City Council debt/borrowings, especially as it relates to Wulanda.
And when I say MGCC Debt/Borrowings, I mean of course 'Our Debt/Borrowings, and 'Our' as in 'Us', and 'Us' being the Residents & Ratepayers of Mt Gambier.
Here's the link to the MEMGDRRA site, perhaps peruse that first and then come back to this;
https://www.facebook.com/MGDRRA
Now I'm doing that 'cos 1) there's specific points in that post I wanna' address, and 2) more importantly, I want to address it here rather than contaminate the MEMGDRRA page with the "notorious" and "controversial" (both The Border Watch) views of Nick Fletcher.
If one ignores MGCC's cynically deceitful 'Public Consultation' with the stooge-riddled 'Public Committee', CEO Mark McShane's various lies/justifications, eg, must accept the funding or never again/MG is dying/interest rates low, borrow now/obesity crisis, etc, etc, and the $40m 'Without Fixtures & Fittings' Planning Application figure, etc, even then MGCC's ultimate and only "mandate" was for a $39.1m facility.
MGCC has since officially moved that to $64m, but their own Budgets across the last 5 years have the cost at $80m+.
I've gone through the Budgets, done the math, $80m+.
(I haven't included amounts secreted in and/or syphoned from other Budget areas, eg Gardens/Parks Maintenance 'cos although I know it's happened, eg, associated roadworks, I don't know specific amounts, etc, so I'll stick to what I do know.)
However, everyone I've spoken to who has been involved through their business/family/friends, every single one scoffs at my $80m+ and says it's North of $100m.
And we don't know the figures 'cos MGCC are determined to keep them secret, but we do know that MGCC has borrowed several large sums re Wulanda, and apparently continue to borrow.
We know that the FARC (Farcical Aquatic Recreation Centre) is running at $3m-$5m loss per annum and that has to come from somewhere.
So much goin' on here that I'll expand on this post over at TMGI The Blog, which I guess means that that is continuing in 2025.
Bottomline, I believe that MGCC is already effectively/actually 'bankrupt' but that the State Labor government will continue to fling Taxpayers' hard-earned down that vacuous hole rather than admit reality and 'sack the Council', bring in Auditors, etc.
And if you think it's just Wulanda that's the problem, then please to be having several more thinks.
No-one in SA wants the realities of this disastrous Council known.
Cheers, Nick.

Facebook 21 Jan 25 New Tennis Stadium

Hi,
Pardon moi for hogging The Internet today, but ABC Sth East Radio played a 10min story this morning re 'a new 16-court tennis facility' for Mt Gambier, with one proponent saying they want it at Corriedale Pk.
I remind Mt Gambier's ever-suffering Ratepayers that back when Mt Gambier City Council were copping criticism for approving 'Wulanda' and the cost, etc, MGCC promised/announced over $1m for an upgrade of the 50m pool, and same for the Olympic Park tennis courts.
And that when Mt Gambier lost the prestigious and profitable 'International Tennis Tournament' over a decade ago 'cos the courts weren't "safe", MGCC publicly stated "it's no big loss, it doesn't generate much income for the town".
Apparently this new tennis facility has been "discussed" and possibly reported earlier, so apologies if this is old news to yous, I just heard this morning.
MGCC is reportedly not committing to anything until 'they finalise their Olympic Pk Master Plan later this financial year (25/26)'.
Which is MGCC code for 'we desperately need to bulldoze some buildings/courts to create parking for Wulanda'.
More plans to have plans but we can't plan until we plan the other plans, at least that's the plan.
It could be said that MGCC speak in Plan English.
Cheers, Nick.

Tomorrow: The White Elephant Has Come Home To Roost

I am Nick Fletcher, that's Ed...(cheers-Ed)...and Ed is a confected literary device used to create conversational discourse rather than lecturous litanies of vapid facts and obtuse opinionisationings, and to help set-up jokes etc...

 

 

A Bittuva' Interim Apology Of Sorts, Kinda'.

Howdy dear availees...for what it's worth, I haven't stopped doin' this 'ere blog, as such, just got to 'Saturation Level StressCon 1', and as is my wanton need on addiction teeters, as always and in all ways, my go-to strategy is to just get up, and walk away...so that's what I've done...

I'm fundamentally traumatised by the horrific genocide being committed in Palestine/Gaza/Lebanon/Syria...is this what we are as a species? is this what we can do to each other? while we're all rushing about celebrating Xmas it's genocide in Bethlehem...

And as a Westerner, as a First Generation White Australian, I stand complicit by way of my government's actions and, far more damning, their inactions...and others like the Thug and his moronic cronies, and our 'Allies', etc, they are openly, enthusiastically complicit...we, Australians, whether we are horrified/opposed/concerned/whatevs, we are complicit...

And as we watch 'Democracy' get rapidly dismantled around us, I can see a very near future, if it's not already happening, where our government, ALP/LNP/whatevs, allows these child-murderers back into Australia, bringing with them the same self-satisfied, cowardly thuggery and violence displayed...

Are these the psychopaths that will be roaming our streets legally armed and funded by our government, I believe $32m worth, to protect this tiny fraction of the populace?...and protect from whom exactly?...

So, yay, forget the corrupt SA ICAC Commissioner who lied repeatedly to Parliament about me, then quit saying 'It's all a bit difficult', forget that nonsense...forget the St Martins Lutheran School Child Abuse Cover-up and that fact that I literally cannot walk down the street in this sick li'l town and not bump into someone intimately complicit in the SMLSCAC, whatevs, when Genocide is mainstream viewing, and then it just keeps on happening, but not just happening, defended and supported and justified, etc, then Humanity has lost it's Social License...

Humanity Has Lost It's Social License.

So theres ya' go, yay, Merry Shreckin' Xmas...

This 'ere blog may well continue in 2025...maybe not, who knows, who really cares...as MGCC would say, Id Facio Quod Cupio, Par, Do What I Want, Mate...    

Tomorrow: Is Yesterday's Today

I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers and laters...

And for what it's worth, a genuine apology to genuine availees for this doom-laden venting, but I do feel that y'all will understand, so, thanks in anticipation...  

Mt Gambier City Council 'Plans' For Old Rail Lands

Howdy y'all and welcome to a mostly visual post prompted by a discussion (about 11 Sept 24?) on the most excellent Mt Gambier & Districts Residents and Ratepayers Associations' Facebook page (link below) about what is and/or is not happening with the iconic Old Rail Station in Mt Gambier...I've included here my 'Comment' for context...enjoy...***

https://www.facebook.com/MGDRRA

Hi,

Recent discussion on the most excellent Mt Gambier & Districts Residents and Ratepayers Association Facebook page re the iconic Old Rail Station and possible storm damaged tiles, what's it's future? etc.

Didn't wanna' hog the narrative there, so here's an accompanying TMGI input.

I'll expand this into a review-style blog with lots more documents, photos etc.

Bottomline, MGCC was 'gifted' the Rail Lands by the Rann Labor government in 2005 and immediately set-about massive Retail/Commercial development plans.

These 30-page, architect-drafted plans (photo below) were presented to Ratepayers/Citizens at MGCC Info meetings in February 2006.

It has 3-4 designs/configurations that all include large areas of Retail/Commercial development.

In November 2011 MGCC threw a wee shindig in the Helpmann Theatre atrium/foyer to launch their Parklands Concept Plan (photo 2), again extensive/expensive plans presented albeit far less Retail/Commercial.

Imagine the gigs you could throw at a Rail Lands that actually had a Sound Shell and covered plaza.

I know that some peeps have spent years making repeated concerted efforts to 'tenant' the Rail Station but MGCC has refused them; not my specific business so I'll leave it to those involved to comment/act.

Then days after Xmas 2023 this banner (photo 3) appeared at the Rail Lands, carefully cable-tied to the fence.

I personally love the bit about "suitably positioned applicants".

No idea what's happened with this.

I'll expand on TMGI The Blog, but in the absence of any actual logical reason, I believe that MGCC, for whatevs reasons, remain steadfastly, bloody-mindedly committed to their Retail/Commercial expansion of Centro/Lakes Plaza onto the Rail Lands site and that's why the Rail Station has been kept empty.

Cheers, Nick

 

***And that about covers it for now, so we'll briefly assess each pic below as we go, and, ah, see yous at the other end...

This (below) is the cover-page of the 30-page brochure presented by then Mt Gambier City Council CEO Greg Muller at his/their public meeting re the Rail Lands, and as reported in The Border Watch (below, "Where is bus terminal")...(yeah yeah, and I'm gunna' have a wild guess who it was asked 'Where's the terminus?'-Ed)...this was arguably my very first MGCC public meeting...(and second, ya' went to one in the arvo and the main evening one-Ed)...fair dues, and well remembered...(yeah I recall vividly and with great good mirth the 2 li'l ol' ladies sitting right behind yous, and quietly geeing yous on when Greg mate started getting a bit upset-Ed)...yeah I mean, all we were doing was politely asking some very pertinent questions, Greg very politely told us to let some others have a go, so we did, and then when they quickly petered-out, we put our hands-up again...(I'm Language Warning myself now, cop this, fucking hilarious...so...fucking...hilarious...there was a gentle flutter of genuine mirth breathed across the room, and fuck me if that didn't just make ol' mate Greg even more upset-Ed)...and all the while 2 angry ol' biddies a whippin' their willin' mules to action...I agree, fucking hilarious...End Language Warning...

The meeting was pretty much a contrived nonsense with that very special sense of Predetermined Outcome about it...and that's why we were asking questions, eg, where is the plan for open parklands like heaps of people want? what about using it for a proper Bus Terminus? etc etc...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This (below) is the 'Basic Concept Plan' contained there-in...please note it has not just Retail/Commercial Development but a huge expansion of Centro/Lakes Plaza right across the site with Railway Tce gone etc...this is why the Rail Easement/Corridor had to be moved, the only reason why...(well yeah that, that and creating a nice earner for someone-Ed)...indeed, but ultimately, all of that very extensive and very very expensive excavation and re-location of the Rail Easement was to legally allow the Centro/Lakes Plaza expansion onto the Rail Lands...the expansion simply would not be allowed across the Rail Easement, so the Easement had to be physically replaced elsewhere...(indeed, to do what MGCC have done thus far on the site is at best the bare minimum and certainly did not require the extraordinary effort/cost of moving the Easement-Ed)...fa shizzle'...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here's another view, this is 'Option A'...'Option B' is virtually identical, certainly when total Retail/Commercial footprint/percentage is considered...both 'Options' identify/include the Rail Station but I don't believe this is genuine, rather, it's to avoid any questions/criticism on this issue...below that is the article from The Border Watch relating to these meetings 

I Please also note that the firm 'Design Inc' have been mentioned just days ago on the MGDRRA Facebook page re an article about the massive financial losses MGCC /Ratepayers are incurring re the Farcical Aquatic Recreation Centre (Wulanda), estimated at a net loss of approx $3.2million per annum...(on yeah, some dude bangin' on about how it was Barney McCusker's son's company and asking, quite rightly, why they were MGCCs' choice for the FARC design, etc-Ed)...what can I tell ya'ate? MGCC 101, rorting Ratepayers hard-earned to hand to Councillors families/friends/associates...

This (below) is a photo from early 2016, taken in the main Helpmann Theatre foyer/atrium, possibly/probably when I was attending a MGCC meeting...it shows the original partition-sized glossy posters still attached to said partition boards, seen here turned inside-out...(weren't they the ones that were used by MGCC at it's November 2011 pomp-and-ceremony launch of their $10million Parklands Concept Plan, that, in my opinion was never ever genuine but rather a shiny object/dead cat that MGCC flung onto the table to not just distract away from all the criticism they were (still are) copping for the woeful Main Corner redevelopment debasco (debacle/fiasco), but also to address all the related flak about the lack of MGCC action on the Rail lands? asking for a friend-Ed)...well, yes yes yes, and yes, and below that is some of the relevant reportage from TBW December 2011...

 

 

 

 

 

Here's the reportage of the 'Revised Plan' from September 2014, where-in the Sound Shelter and Covered Courtyard are gone although included to some degree in the supplied 'plan picture', and the cost has dropped from $10m in November 2011 to now $4.2m in 2014...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just found this (below), the original flyer from 2005 about the very first MGCC meetings re the Rail Lands, 27th July 2005...I've previously stated that Muller/MGCC presented 4 different but near identical plans for massive Retail/Commercial Development at the February 2006 meetings, and I believe that this was MGCC's contribution, and add to that Design Incs' Concept Plan and 2 'variations' and that's ya' 4...   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And that'll do for now...gunna' get 'Tech Support' in and set-up that second blog for all of this and the many other Rail Lands related documents, eg, from MGCCs' 2004/05 Yearbook where-in they describe in detail exactly what costs MGCC have lumbered Ratepayers with by moving that Easement and removing related infrastructure eg all the rails...(yay-Ed)...yeah I know...

Tomorrow: More Shizzle About Whatevs...Deal With It

I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers and laters...