Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Forestry, Fish, and Euthanasia - Trees, Seas, and Peace

Sorry, short repetitive post today.

Just once I wish I had something positive to say about the Forestry Sale issue, but the basic reality is that it's  all over...with the control of supply gone, so is any industry based on security of that supply.

The 5 year supply contracts 'guarantee' that the Labor government brutally, ruthlessly forced on poor old One Forty One Plantations, means that 141 can't just ship every log out of the country for at least 5 years...it's an outrage!

Peoples jobs are secure for at least 5 years....well done Labor...a century old industry and the communities that depend on it destroyed in one term of office...well done Labor...and lying relentlessly every step of the way, including publicly in Mt Gambier and on the floor of parliament...well done Labor.

And what an inspirational and spirited effort by the Liberals to just sit there and let it happen...well done Liberals...and for Tony Pasin to attack Nick Xenophon for spelling out exactly what the Liberals could do to stop the sale (refuse to ratify sale after 2014 election therefore stopping sale)...kudos Tony.

I remember the vehement 'do or die, fight to the death' carry-on from people like Don Pegler, Steve Perryman, Pasin, Brad Coates, etc, who all postured and provaricated and then complicitly rolled over to have their bellies scratched...but that's what a dog does for it's Master.

I remember the spineless self-serving capitulation from all concerned when the Sale was announced; 'we'll fight it all the way' instantly became 'oh, gee whiz...never mind...we tried...honest...' Pathetic, pathetic, pathetic. That then became the comments like those from the CFMEU's ( and Forestry Roundtable) Brad Coates; 'There's some good stuff in there we can work with', etc. Charming.

No such rolling over for NF McDonnell though...no sir...they leapt straight onto their Master's lap and started licking It's face...good boy...there'll be special log contracts, land re-zonings and other treats for you...(hmm, a lap Judas Goat?-Ed)

Now 'NF McDonnell' has been appopinted to the new SA Forestry Industry Advisory Board... I'm going to call it the Forestry RhomboidTrestle...it is a continuation of all that preceeded it, pointless and devoid of credibility...So many Boards, so few jobs.

I'll say one thing for Labor...they sure know how to set up a Board loaded with their mates.

Fishy Findings - Post mortem results allegedly indicate that 'Morbidovirus' (?-spelling, sorry) is/are responsible for the deaths of at least 5 of the now 30 something dolphins that are known to have died recently in SA coastal waters.

How many have died and not been conveniently washed up onto local beaches to be found?

I heard a rep from BioSecurity SA on ABC Radio stating that this is un-related to fish deaths that were due to 'algal blooms', unless possibly the dolphins have eaten infected fish...maybe. I reject his assertion that "an upwelling" has raised the water temperature leading to the bloom, because 'upwellings' bring colder water.

I completely reject the assertion that the De-Salination Plant has played no part in these die-offs. Please refer to previous posts re the multiple pollution streams that are clearly a part (and probaly the major cause) of these multiple die-offs.

Voluntary Euthanasia - I support it.

At 84 my grandfather was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer but refused any treatment, and spent his last few days heavily sedated with Morphine. He died within a week of diagnosis; well, within a week of telling us and going to Daws Pk Repatriation Hospital.

I believe that he would have made that decision himself if he'd had a choice.

At 46 I have survived Cancer twice and live with constant chronic pain issues partly related to Chemotherapy/my illness in 2004/05. When and if I decide that I'm going, then I am, and I ain't going to ask anyones opinion or permission and I will end up where I'm fairly sure I'm headed anyway.

Religious organisations can take their opinions and shhhh...keep them to themselves. Who the hell do you think you are Pastor Robert Cotton (The Border Watch 26/04/13) to call me a murderer?

I guarantee you Robert that every day I prostrate myself before my God and She forgives me my sins and condemns me for my refusal to repent...I am only what I is after all.    (top grammarings-Ed)

Tomorrow: Victorian Child Abuse Commission 

Monday, April 29, 2013

MLC Kyam Maher DWSW Part II

It is ironic that right next to Kyam Maher's letter about Flouridation and Vaccination (The Border Watch 26/04/2013) is a short letter from 'Bill' saying that his "family has been buying water for drinking and cooking because of the strong chlorine taste in the city water supply. "

Just the other evening there was a light shower of rain after a relatively warm day, and the dirt and cement in the backyard gave off that beautiful, almost sweet smell...you know the one; very different to when I watered from the tap during summer, where the water was 'foaming' as it hit the ground, and there was a sickly chemical pong not dissimilar to paint thinners.

I've said it once and I'll say it again; "Dear SA Water - What The Heck Is Coming Out of My Tap?" I remind readers that 6,600 people signed the Petition requesting a public 'vote' on the issue of Flouridation, and that MP Don Pegler promised publicly to support that 'public opinion', but then just handed over the petition without doing the relevent parliamentary speech...not nothing...

Where Kyam Maher's letter (TBW 25/04/2013) could perhaps be excused as merely biased and unrealistic, his effort the very next day spuriously trying to link Water Flouridation with Vaccination is fundamentally flawed, cynical, grossly irresponsible, and simply offensive.

This letter specifically and deliberately seeks to denigrate people for their beliefs with a series of outrageous misrepresentations, un-supportable comparisons, glaring mistakes and deliberate ommissions. 

People have every right to their opinion and to be critically cynical about 'governments and experts' because governments do deceive their citizens, and 'experts' can be wrong, manipulated, and/or corrupt; like...say...
covering up Child Abuse in schools Kyam...like the Labor Party and the Education Department using 'experts' like Gary Costello to bully and threaten parents while your colleague Grace Portolesi blames parents and lies through her teeth on the floor of parliament...like that...

People have an absolute obligation to hold corrupt, dysfunctional governments like your SA Labor Party to account for the paedophile-protecting and incompetent economic pillaging that epitomises your decade in office.

Anytime you want Kyam, come on this blog and explain your Labor Government's behaviour in helping the Lutheran Church cover-up the abuse of 7 year old children at St Martins School. Better still, do it in The Border Watch

Get a load of me big-noting myself and jumping at shadows, but I absolutely believe that this letter (26/04/13) has at least one of two other agendas;
a)   counter all the truths in my previous posts that prove Flouridation to be inappropriate, and/or;
b)   set up the 'crediblity' of the pending Environmental Protection Agency 'scientific research' (can't
      say it without laughing because it's so laughable) on Wind Turbine Infrasound as the 'scientific
      justification' for ramming through the Fascism of Turbine Development in SA.

The EPA is an entirely corrupted and compromised government controlled agency conducting minimal, bit-piece research, and I guarantee that they will hand down results that will completely exonerate Turbines re health issues, and that the 'corrupt data' will immediately be used around the world by Turbine proponents.
They've already tried to do it once, just recently.

Please refer to my previous posts re the many fundamental problems with Water Supply Flouridation.

Water should be as un-adulterated as possible, but I accept that Chlorine is an unpleasant reality in a
'safe' water supply, unless water can somehow be treated at the tap, and there are already multiple contaminants in Mt Gambier's water supply due to chemical run-off from industry, roads, etc.

Regardless of the efficacy of Flouride in Dental Health treatments (whether you believe it works or not), and multiple 'conspiracy theories' (industry plot to be paid for their highly toxic waste that would be
expensive to dispose of properly; Flouride produces 'dulling' brain damage that makes the populace
easier to control; etc) this is 'medication' via the water supply.

It is totally inappropriate to apply 'medication' in this way. No other medicine is applied thus, not even vaccinations.

There are many appropriate ways to apply flouride, eg, flouridated toothpaste, and early childhood education and regular check-ups, are the guarantee of better dental health...oh, and not having to wait 4 years for appointments, Kyam.

Pouring this crap into our water does not excuse or address the outrageous discrimination and failures of this Labor government re dental services (all services) in Mt Gambier.  

Well over 95% of Flouridated water goes straight into the environment via toilets, taps, hoses, etc, and many people would be either drinking way over the 'standard dose' or none at all; what about the difference in a child to an adult?..what about other Flouride sources/contamination in other foods/fluids?...what is 'a standard dose'?...environmental impacts?..

It is a farcical, inappropriate, completely un-scientific and non-medical approach; throw it in their water and hope they drink some...absolutely ridiculous.

When I referred to a local dentist in a previous post, I was of course talking about the same Dr Mark Hutton as Kyam Maher; it is Dr Hutton's position on Flouridation and my respect for him as a dentist (and person) that recently led me to review (albeit retain) my position. We have discussed it briefly, but I have not sought to turn him...not yet...but I will...look out Mark...

Rather than 'tit for tat' Kyam Maher's letter about Floridation I ask that readers refer to the NMHRC and WHO websites who have reams of information on Flouride and Flourosis, the umbrella term for those medical/health issues that can result from Flouride exposure. Research it yourself and make up your own mind.

Kyam Maher needs to check his facts before making ludicrous statements about 'Toxicity' and "the harm caused...is mere dental cavities", and "no safety concerns"etc. Dental health is critical to over-all health and can and does lead to "serious disease", and there is a 'disease' called Flourosis. Kyam has either not read those websites (WHO and NMHRC) or has chosen to conveniently overlook that unfortunate truth.

Mr Maher is trying to undermine the Flouridation debate by linking it to Vaccination concerns in ways that don't bear scrutiny, and to say that having genuine concerns is "popular" is offensive. It is a deliberate manipulation to include the two issues over and over in the same sentence, particularly using one example of impropriety re Vaccinations to slander Flouridation opponents.

I would suggest Mr Maher that the specific defamatory and libellous accusations that you level against Flouridation opponents should be kept to yourself, or come up with at least one example. You deliberately and specifically defame me (amongst others) as having "falsified...potential side effects" using the un-related example of an English doctor and Vaccinations.

Pathetic Kyam, simply pathetic. It is a clumsy attempt to denigrate with an un-related issue and I challenge you to produce one example of where I have "falsified" anything that I have had to say re Flouridation, and failing that, you can do a written apology to myself and everyone else involved....in The Border Watch I think...

Clearly there are people who have very genuine concerns about vaccinations as indeed is my personal experience of the Flouridation issue, however I do not know enough about Vaccination to offer a definitive opinion, but if I may...if the issue is that the Triple-Antigen shot may potentially cause side effects, any side effects, then could that be addressed/avoided by single shots over several weeks? Is that possible?

Flouridation and Vaccination are important if un-related issues, but "Children...are put at risk" every day they go to school in SA, Kyam...how about you sort that out.

Tomorrow: Forestry, Fish, and Euthanasia (Trees, Seas, and Peace)

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Labor MLC Kyam Maher: Different Wallpaper, Same Wall.

(Apologies for late post. Struggled a bit with this one. You'll understand I think...)

The title is a phrase that I used relative to the resignation and disappearance of former Premier Mike Rann and the ascension of Brother Jay (Weatherill)...aAAaaAaaAAAaaAllLLlllrighty then (choral chanting); Labor has changed the wallpaper but it's the same old wall.

Essentially, only those who will perpetuate, proliferate, and protect the pro-paedophile corruption and criminality that is the South Australian Labor Party (didn't really need to limit that to SA did I) will be appointed to these positions.

So when I see someone who is the South Australian Labor Party Secretary and a lawyer from the Crown Solicitors Office, I see the heart of the animal, not it's hide - not even another head - the heart, the soul, the very being; I see someone who by the very definition of their position is personally and professionally complicit in the corruption and criminality.

And that animal, the SA Labor party, has amongst many things, officially helped the Lutheran Church cover up the 2002 gross abuse of a classroom of 7 year old children at St Martins Lutheran School here in Mt Gambier. My child, Kyam....my child.

I have discussed the St Martins issue with Jim and Viv on various occasions, including with Viv as her counselling client and at the 2010 Election forum.

I officially excuse Viv of the 'patient/client confidentiality' and offer her the opportunity to provide a written response/clarification of the role she has played relative to St Martins that I guarantee I will publish un-edited, even if it criticises me.

Similarly, purely out of respect for Jim and Viv, I offer them the opportunity to address my statements about their son, which I will also publish un-edited. This is not a trap; I am simply trying to be appropriate in a circumstance that I feel very genuinely very conflicted.

However, given my personal experience with the institutionalised corruption of the CSO (previous posts), I view with absolute cynicism the career path of Kyam Maher as potentially just another lawyer churned out of a corrupt government authority.

You do not get into that position (Secretary) unless you have demonstrated an un-wavering commitment to the Labor Party...and that's just fine...loyalty is super. However, loyalty is also compromising, biased, almost inevitably subjective, and often manipulated and/or founded in selfishness and/or conspiracy.

And so it is that I feel that Jim and Viv Maher are manipulated and betrayed by those they are loyal to; the SA Labor Party. Their rationale is theirs to define, but I have absolute faith in the genuine nature of their original commitments and motivations that clearly pre-date Kyam Maher's involvement in politics.

Of all the people that I have had dealings with in Mt Gambier, either as a citizen or as a 'politician', Jim and Viv are two of the most genuinely decent, and so it is I take absolutely no pleasure in going Kyam, but Kyam has left me no choice, repeatedly appearing in The Border Watch newspaper making outrageous and un-supportable statements on a range of issues.

I am 'on the record' stating my belief that the Labor party has clearly, repeatedly run 'dummy' candidates at successive state elections whilst romancing and supporting their 'real candidates' the alleged Independents Rory McEwen and Don Pegler; Kyam Maher as Secretary would have been intimately involved in that process.

Very simple really; offer genuine Labor voters reasonable, respected Labor candidates like Brad Coates (2006) and Viv Maher (2010) to garner as many votes as possible (knowing that you are not going to win that seat on first preferences) and then defer those preferences to your real candidate, the compliant alleged independent.

This culminated in the farcical 2006 election where Rory McEwen was a front bench Labor Minister, fully involved in the pro-paedophile Labor corruption relative to St Martins Lutheran School, yet ran calling himself "An Independent"....and people allegedly still voted for him...I say allegedly because the Electoral system in South Australia is after all, in South Australia.

The only thing more farcical than the 2006 election was the 2010 election (previous posts); democracy in SA is a broken joke.

Maybe Kyam was also manipulated; maybe someone came to Kyam and suggested that his mother Viv would be a great candidate, and blissfully unawares Kyam allowed?..suggested?..encouraged?..his mother to become an irrelevent, disposable Labor tool of manipulation and deceit.

Maybe, when the Labor Party he is Secretary of set up his mother Viv Maher as a respectable but 'false' candidate he was absolutely unawares. She's not my mum, but I'd be furious that a) she'd been used like that, and b) so had I.

Doesn't explain though why the Labor Party couldn't even do an Election launch for their valued candidates in either 2006 or 2010?

I completely reject Kyam Maher's statements (TBW 25/04/13-attached) about representation from the alleged independents Rory McEwen and Don Pegler; these people have not served Mt Gambier well, they have un-waveringly served the Labor Party to the irreparable detriment of Mt Gambier.

I cannot imagine who would be stupid enough to fall for this betrayal again and run as a Labor candidate at either state or federal elections; but we'll see I'm sure.

Tomorrow: MLC KM DWSW Part II - Flouride and Vaccinations










Saturday, April 27, 2013

TFTIM: Councillor Merv White

"Ahh...Mr Harry Potter....welcome to Gringott's Bank."
     "Umm...I'm Nick Fletcher...I'm here to see Merv White..."
"Yes Mr Potter...I know why you're here."
     "Ahhh, yeahhh...I was told to come here to the brand new Blue Lake Golf Links clubhouse on Grant
      Ave and ask for Merv White about the sale of the Blue Lake (Queen's Trust) Caravan Pk..."
"Do you have your key, Mr Potter?"
     "Ahh, look mate...I just want to talk to Merv White about the atrocious behaviour of the new park
      owners."

Sorry...couldn't help myself, but this was genuinely my first impression of Merv when I went to his 'office' at the clubhouse in early 2001; this 'goblin-like' creature scowling at me over a huge desk.

I had been living at the caravan park for about three years as one of four 'permanent' vans, and it was a stunning place to live. My van was right in the back corner amongst trees and looking down the slope through what was then the first tee and clubhouse.

The park managers kept the whole place spotless and manicured; it was almost like living in the golf course. Even the ablutions were spotless. At night the access road to Valley Lake was closed giving me the whole area to myself; I would take my morning coffee just down to the bench overlooking the lake...beautiful. Frosty mornings with all the magpies singing were my favourite.

As it was explained to us at the time, Merv White and company (Council) had sold the Blue Lake Park to the owners of the 'Marion Holiday Park'; and weren't they charming people.

Note: it has been put to me that Council has not actually sold the park, but leased it; not unlike the way Labor has leased the Forestry Rotations I'm sure, but I'll have to check. Anyway, at the time we were told sold.

The new owners immediately indicated that they wanted us off those sites to build cabins, and preferrably out of the park altogether...they openly stated that they did not want 'residents'. Their first move was to just switch our power off one day with no notification. My fridge 'blew up' and wouldn't work again, and the others lost all their frozen foods.

After complaining, we were given an extension cord from the toilet block, and soon after were ordered onto other sites. There was a whole bunch of unpleasantness...those people were/are right bastards.

So it was that I came to meet Merv. From the moment I walked in he was fuming, shifting angrily in his seat. I tried to explain to him that the other tenants were retirees and a professional couple who lived at the park and worked in town, they loved it there, etc, how upset they were,etc, but Merv wasn't interested.

Merv White repeatedly denied Council responsibility, saying that the new owners could do what they liked, etc. It was that sort of language being used at the time that indicated to me that the park had been sold, but for all I know he was just lying and denying.

I put it to Merv, that the 'rumour/allegation' circulating the park (residents and employees) was that the new owners were close personal friends of a senior Councillor (or Council employee rather) and that the sale had been 'highly in-appropiate' and 'mutually very beneficial'....(I think that means corrupt-Ed)

I politely raised these issues with Merv, but he didn't seem to appreciate the question, and he just snapped; "Why don't you just get out and stop making trouble?" He was absolutely furious, spittle flying from his lips to land on the table...not quite apoplectic but still hilarious to watch.

Probaly didn't help that I laughed at his little beady-eyed tantrum, but I couldn't help it. From the moment I walked in, having never met him before, it was immediately obvious to me that this was a devious and  untrustworthy individual who was going to be very problematic to deal with...and he didn't disappoint me.

And that was about the end of that; I left the office, stopped paying rent, and moved out a few months later. The owners sent the police after me for the rent and I spoke to them once about what had been happening, and nothing ever came from it.

From that meeting with Merv it was immediately and obviously clear that something was not right about the 'sale' or 'lease' (whatevs), and when I had the bare-faced audacity to ask those questions, Cr White's response indicated that he knew what it was that had happend, and exactly why he didn't want it being discussed.

Merv continues to entertain with his own special brand of insular, biased thinking and questionable conduct; his latest effort in Council about the 'consultation', etc, with the Lady Nelson Bus Shelter was a master class in refusing to let reality impinge on your own position and belief.

I've watched this commmunity go from a vibrant one with potential for development and growth, to a divided community bankrupted by the incompetence, selfishness, nepotism, and corruption of a handful of people; and Merv White is one of them.

To me he epitomises everything that is so rancidly wrong with City Council, and is a walking billboard for limited terms of office in local government. Sack him; sack Ian Von Stanke; sack Des Mutton; and then sack the rest of them as well.

Tomorrow: Labour MLC Kyam Maher - Different Wallpaper, Same Wall.


Friday, April 26, 2013

Mount Gambier City Council: What New Madness?

Let's see if the reality gets this post pulled...hello Bill...still waiting for an answer....(see previous posts)

I have previously stated that it would be unfair and unworkable for Mt Gambier City Council to resign 'en masse', but I was wrong...they should... they are either corrupt and incompetent or simply incompetent; resign the same way you ram multiple issues through Council meetings to avoid appropriate scrutiny....en masse.

Mt Gambier would literally be better off with no Council; their outrageous corruption of appropriate process and relentless compromising of 'Conflict of Interest' guidelines, nepotism, 1950s small-town 'deals for mates' corruption, bizarre 'drunken sailor' spending, fundamental failures to provide basic public services whilst pursuing pointless 'aspirational projects', etc, etc, blah, blah, blah.

I'll go further; given my own chronic mental health trauma I rarely personally denigrate others over issues of 'sanity', but there are clearly several gentleman on Council whose selfishness and sense of self-importance compromises their ability to deal with reality.

For example, when Cr Merv White speaks on the Bus Shelter issue and denigrates those who differ from his opinion, and trots out his lies about how Council has listened to the public, and 'I don't know why people are complaining now', etc, is it just that this is the pantomime he knows he needs to go through to 'formalise' the inherent corruption?..or is he so corrupt and so used to just getting his own way without question that he actually believes what he's saying?..or is he just completely out of his gourd?.....'e won't 'aggle either (Life of Brian-Monty Python)

That does it; This Arvo - TFTIM Councillor Merv White, but I digress. 

Council business, like giving the Main Corner free of charge to Cr Des Mutton's son, the recent Phone Tower Approval, etc, is decided outside the chamber by a group of mates who are the Development Assessment Panel; these three will always vote together and always to their own specific advantage or for those around them.

They only need one of the other four (whom Council elects in the first place) to vote with them, and everything those three want (and their other mates/supporters within Council want) gets approved, and anything they don't want don't happen.

These same people are the ones who recently had Internal Councillor Complaints against them for this exact behaviour.

Besides, Grant District Council decides what happens in and around Mt Gambier, eg, the Bunnings/Penola Rd corruption of re-zoning Cr Brenton James land at Millicent Rd; Council Boundary Adjustments; the Jail Expansion; etc.

Wish I had a magic bucket of money like Council, because then I could spend vast sums of other people's money on pointlesss, stupid projects. Why and at what cost to replace the fencing along Keegan Drive with new rounded posts?

Why pull up perfectly good pavers and replace them with the large ugly grey ones? At what cost? People are still are saying to me 'which Councillor's relative is getting payed for all this stuff?' Not only is it unnecessary but it looks incredibly ugly.

The Border Watch contradicts itself repeatedly over issues with Council depending on who writes the story, eg, the Main Corner has 'dropped' in cost back to only (haha, only) $9million.

Who the hell is 'Auditing' Council that the vast sums of money missing and/or misappropriated on that project remain un-accounted for? What has this person/agency done about the $340,000 former CEO Greg Muller 'stole' without appropriate authorisation? Who keeps enabling and encouraging Council in this failure of accountability....literally.

Sorry for mdisjointed bits...Interweb dropping out...will finish here but more on Telstra tower etc to come. 




Thursday, April 25, 2013

TFTIM: A War Hero - My Papa, Group Captain Charles NIcholls

I'm not trying to be facetious or sarcastic about this, but I was obviously a small child or baby when I first met Papa, my other grandfather. They lived in Sydney then New Zealand so we didn't see them much growing up.

As per previous post, both my grandfathers were Second World War veterans but neither ever attended ANZAC Day ceremonies or events and neither ever really talked about their experiences; the few small bits that Pops ever divulged seem like volumes compared to Papa.

The only things Papa ever told me were effectively other peoples experiences around him, eg, his friend who accidentally killed another friend in the next room when he threw his belt onto the bed and the service revolver discharged through the adjoining wall; the seven times he crashed, including a botched landing at an Air Show in front of the Air Marshall, etc.

There was only one specific thing he ever stated directly to me. He had known an American Army captain whose troops 'liberated' one of the first West European concentration camps. On the second day, these men, who had seen extensive service in the violence of the Pacific Theatre, had to be dis-armed at gun-point by their own MPs (Military Police) and forced to re-enter the camp.

Papa told me 'if anyone ever tries to tell you The Holocaust never happened, you tell them otherwise'.

Ironically, given his virtual silence on his own history, there is apparently quite a bit of info about Papa on the Interweb, but I haven't looked at it yet.

Briefly; he was in the Royal Air Force at the outbreak of WWII and flew Hurricanes and Spitfires in the Battle of France and the Air war over England and the Channel immediately prior to the Battle of Britain. He was pulled from active service as a test pilot (I believe that he may have later flown the first jets - the Vampire and Meteor), and later trained New Zealand pilots and flew combat missions in the Pacific.

After the war he himself flew extensively and was a senior executive with BAC, co-developers of the Concorde, and travelled the world flying on them.

I think his full 'title' was Group Captain Charles 'Nick' Nicholls DSO OBE, and he was one of New Zealand's leading war-time aviators, but he himself would never have considered using the term 'ace'.

He would have been an honoured guest at any ANZAC celebration or commemoration, in any RSL, but he barely even spoke of it; like Pops, it was with him always and he didn't want or need to be reminded.

I find myself deeply conflicted in wanting to recognise and honour these two men and all the others before and since, men and women, in a context where to truly honour my own ancestors I should honour their choices to not engage in 'the ANZAC tradition'.

Again, it is simply not my place to tell others how they should feel, behave, or react, and this is simply to acknowledge those who might feel as my grandfathers did; I cannot imagine that two such different men who barely ever met could have such identical experiences and be the only ones.

I regret not talking to them both more about their experiences, but the reality is that they would not have told me. I miss you Pops, I miss you Papa...god bless and thankyou.

Tomorrow: City Council - What New Madness 

It's Alright To Not 'Celebrate' ANZAC Day

Warning: This post contains graphic language and descriptions of conflict and violence.

My father's middle name is also mine. Dad was named after 2 of my grandfather's (Pops) mates from his Australian Army service during the Second World War. My middle name, my father's, and that of my own child are in remembrance of that man, my grandfather, and many others.

I imagine that my father is not the only person of his generation (or indeed any other) to be named for fallen mates, but out of respect for these men and their families, I will not include their actual names.

Pops, the grandpa we saw every week, almost never spoke about his service as 'A Rat of Tobruk'; the following is cobbled together from what little he did say to different people over many years.

Warning: They landed by sea at night into a surrounded Tobruk and went immediately forward to where they thought the trenches were, but in the rubble, confusion and darkness, ended up actually in the German lines. The first indication they had of their mistake was their 'squad leader' (sorry, I don't know the correct term) being shot through the head from behind.

Warning: They spent the rest of that night fighting their way back into the Australian trenches, and then two days fighting to get back to the point where they could retrieve his body. When Pops grabbed his dead mate by the ankles to drag his body back to the main trenches, both feet came off in his hands; the body had decomposed rapidly after two days in the desert sun. (I believe they then may have used a blanket to retrieve his body.)

Warning: On their first night in Tobruk, one of his best mates was killed shot through the head right next to him, and then retrieving his body to have that happen...Pops barely mentioned the hours of fighting to get back into their own trenches, the fight for his own life, because it meant nothing to him compared to what had happened.

I know the "Thousand Yard Stare"; I saw it up close as a young child in a man I loved and trusted as my gentle grandpa, and understood from a very early age the reality of the violence and the horror. It is unquestionably a major factor in my 'avowed pacifism' (for lack of a better term).

Warning: The other mate died a decade after the war in the Daws Rd Repatriation Hospital. He had a lower leg wound that became gangrenous, and across many years, suffered a series of amputations from ankle to knee to hip, to eventually die without ever leaving hospital after the initial wound. My father was nearly 8 years old when the man he was named after 'Died of Wounds'.

These things did not happen to me; I cannot begin to understand how these things really affect a man, but I grew up looking at a man who did.

Pops never attended an ANZAC Day march or ceremony; to him the day was an un-neccesary reminder of the loss of good men, a memory that was with him every day. He was openly critical of the whole process and those who participated, but then ultimately embraced them all with the observation 'but if that's what they (veterans) need to do to deal with it all, then I understand' (paraphrase)

He did not want to hear about it and be reminded of it, and he was deeply critical of politicians and others he perceived to be 'unworthy' participating, and the subsequent posturing and pontificating, but he knew what it was that others (veterans) might need to talk about and commemorate, and that those lost must never be forgotten.

In his honour, I challenge the reality of 'ANZAC' and Gallipoli that we are presenting to our children. Media commentary has gone part way there, 'this was us invading Turkey' and 'it was in the wrong spot', etc, but still falls well short of the reality.

I wish I could have afforded at the time or exactly remember the title of a book called 'Greatest Mistakes in History' (something similar) that on the back sleeve made a reference to Winston Churchill's disasterous Gallipoli plan.

Gallipoli itself was technically the wrong landing place, for an attack on Turkey, that was designed to distract from other landings. Troops from many nations of the Empire, not just Australia and New Zealand, were  effectively sacrificed to make things easier for British troops elsewhere.

I'll leave it to proper historians to define the European Imperial aspirations, alliances and conflicts that had waged for centuries that led to young Winston sending men to Gallipoli, but there-in lies the truth.

I know I'm a deeply cynical person, but I genuinely reject the notion that this sacrifice is to be celebrated as 'The Birth of a Nation'; I believe this is itself a cynical manipulation to foster the sub-concious 'nobility' of sacrificing oneself for ones nation and/or the Empire.

It is simply not my place to tell others how they do or don't feel or what right they have to feel that, etc, this is just my experience and stated out of respect for my own ancestors and what they believed and what they experienced.

My uncle was drafted to Vietnam on the 'Birthday Ballot' but then failed the physical, and Pops said it was the happiest day of his life, bar none.

My Pops was a hero like any other. I think of the people lost and those still losing children, partners, parents, etc in the modern age, and of Pops, and I weep.

Lest We Forget, but it's alright to not want to celebrate, or even participate. And the band played Waltzing Matilda.

This Arvo: TFTIM A War Hero - My Papa, Group Captain Charles Nicholls

No sarcasm, no nonsense, by any definition, by any label; Papa was one of New Zealand's most highly decorated pilots during the Second World War, but almost never spoke of his experiences, and also never attended ANZAC Day.










Wednesday, April 24, 2013

TFTIM: Former Mt Gambier High School Principal Gary Costello

 My child started at Mount Gambier High School in the first week of March 2008.

As part of the orientation process, there was a class discussion on bullying. Shortly into the discussion, one of the students started discussing/describing what had been happening in their classroom in 2002 at St Martins Lutheran School.

As per previous posts, 50 year old male teacher Glyn Dorling was 'removed' from St Martins Lutheran School on the June long week-end 2002. There had been multiple complaints/concerns from school staff and parents, and several disclosures by children, of 'inappropriate behaviours' being committed by Dorling against all the children, in the classroom, on a daily basis.

After nearly 11 years of parents lobbying relentlessly for action against Glyn Dorling for abusing our children, and after giving evidence, testimony, and extensive documentation to 3 different State Inquiries, Glyn Dorling has never even been formally interviewed by police.

The child specifically described some of the intimidation and bullying that Glyn Dorling subjected the 'non-compliant' children to. Some children were happily 'compliant' with the hugging, kissing, heads on laps, hair grooming, etc, but others were resistant. Dorling was conducting a specific program of manipulating all of the children with either favour or fear with a view to compliance or submission.

My child joined the discussion, recalling several behaviours/events. A third child stated that they had also been in that class and recalled the things discussed, but did not add anything further. Apparently nothing happened from there. (Later I was told that "...the teacher was horrified...", but no action was taken.)

This discussion apparently happened early on the Thursday 13/03/2008, and these are the basest facts as I received them from my child as we rode the bus to school that Friday morning 14/03/08 (my child just happened to be staying with me for several days, and I didn't have a car at that time).

I went into the school and spoke with Ms Carol Shepherd, whom stated that she was aware of 'the incident' and that the teacher "was horrified", but the school had not done a Mandatory Notification, which as it's name suggests is supposed to be 'Mandatory'.

Part way through the conversation Principal Gary Costello entered the room. I politely but emphatically insisted that the school follow their own 'mandatory guidelines' and do a Mandatory Notification.

I discussed the St Martins Lutheran School Child Abuse Cover-up with Ms Shepherd and Gary Costello for at least half an hour.

They (the school) did do a Mandatory Notification, but the Paedophile Task Force rang me on Tuesday 18th March 2008 to say that the Notification had been received by SAPol, but had been dismissed as "having already been investigated".

I was shocked but genuinely grateful that the PTF had contacted me so quickly, even if it was to tell me that nothing was going to happen; I had expected to chase that for months if not years. Unfortunately, SAPol decide it was far too nasty to hold, so they threw the whole thing away as fast as possible...nope, sorry, can't help you...close doors, shutters down, lights off.....muffled whispers..."Has he gone away yet?"

I contacted the school again, but could not speak to either Ms Shepherd or the G Man; they were both very busy. Finally, I spoke briefly with them both over the phone on Thursday 20 March, but they declined to pursue the matter, Gary told me that the school had "met our(sic) obligations'...met your obligations after I got in your face and politely bullied you into doing it.

Mr Costello then received a nice promotion to Head of the South East region of Dept of Education (?not sure exact title, but this is the role), and when I approached him again in that role he again declined responsibility as the Education Dept has repeatedly done.

Unfortunately I do not have any letters, etc, of these exchanges, just some vague diary entries.

Mr Costello subsequently received a massive promotion to 'Head of Schools'.

Late last year I spoke at length with a parent in Adelaide who had met with Gary Costello several times as part of the process involved in the Cover-up of the abuse of a child by an After-School Carer.  

The parents described Gary Costello's behaviour in those meetings as bullying, threatening, harassment, etc; the parent was very, very unimpressed with Mr Costello. I won't put the parent's exact comments because they would get this post pulled off the blog.

It is a completely responsible and accurate summary of my conversation for me to say that the parent stated that Mr Costello was motivated by a desire to protect the Education Department and Minister, the school, etc, and that the children and the parents were irrelevent.

To me, Gary Costello is just another person who has chosen themselves over everybody else, including the children he is being paid a small fortune to be responsible for. He has done very well professionally off the back of choosing to be part of the St Martin's Abuse Cover-up.

He is the system personified. He is Rory McEwen and Mike Rann and Michael Atkinson. He is South Australia. He is a system rancid with pro-paedophile corruption.

This Arvo: Final Fish Findings and the Forestry Sale Farce







Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Fish and ICAC and Sheer Madness

The Universe is in dis-array; the laws of space and physics are rent in twain; rhyme and reason cease to be; Liberal candidate for the federal seat of Barker Tony Pasin, "...has thrown his support behind the Coalition's planned National Broadband Network." (The Border Watch 17/04/13)......my god.  

Time stands still; night is day and day is night; "The State Government's Brighter Future reforms have gained the support of the South East department of Education and Child Development regional office. Regional director David Chadwick said the changes....were a positive development." (Also TBW 17/04/13)

I...I...I don't understand....I...the...no, wait....The Liberal candidate agrees with Liberal policy.....and the DECS (DECD, whatever it is this week) employee agrees with DECS policy....madness....what's happening?...stop the world, I want to get off.....

I genuinely do not understand why the Labor state government is 'centralising' everything else, but 'de-centralising' Education. I disagree that Principals should have more individual authority to employ teachers, etc, because this allows the Minister and Department (and therefore the State) to defer and deny
responsibility. If something goes wrong the Principal is in the breach and the firing line at the same time...ouch.

Also, I believe that there is huge potential for 'layering' and/or disadvantage from 'clusters or networks' of schools. Ours is supposedly a fair and equal democracy, where supposedly each and every citizen should have equal opportunity, and the government, whom are our employees, should provide equal services, eg, health, education, etc.

Education is a fundamental responsibility of a democratic society, and must be available at a base level to all citizens, children and adults. We already have massive inequities in Education with government funding for private schools, etc, and regional/country schools are at the mercy of Adelaide-based, Adelaide-focussed  funding decisions; very much the poor cousins of city relations.

Tony Pasin's statements in support of the Coalitions Broadband scheme are...well...a Liberal candidate spruiking Liberal policy....ummm.......

I Fish - Anyway, not quite so hilarious, the devastating fish die-offs in South Australian Gulf waters. I saw some footage for the first time on the news recently, and it was truly terrible; hundreds of fish of numerous species on only a small area of a long beach covered in fish...I believe that I may have shed a tear...(bloody hippy-Ed)

I had wanted to say 'Frenetic Forensic Fact Finding Follows Further Fish Fatalities, Fueling Famous Fisho's Filthy Fall-out Fears' but it seems a little in-appropriate in the circumstances. Whatever the cause, this situation is an environmental disaster, the repercussions of which may be felt for decades.

Has a whole generation or generations of juvenile fish, crustaceae, etc, been wiped out? Is this permanent damage to the ecosystem or just an unfortunate temporary overload? Are the particular contaminants and/or pollutants and/or conditions still present/prevailing?

It is ludicrously irresponsible to ignore the De-Salination Plant as a critical factor. Even if the damn thing is working properly, and again I do not believe it is, when working exactly to spec it is designed to pour super-saline sludge back into the Gulf.

I am not an engineer, a hydrologist, a biologist, etc, but it occurs to me that given the minimal tidal flow of the Gulf, any discharge will obviously linger and potentially just sink and/or get pushed up the Gulf by the prevailing winds.

Water can only hold a certain concentration of dissolved solids, eg, salt, and temperature affects that level; warmer water holds less solids. I believe it is roughly the 'Blue Lake' principle; as summer sun heats the surface water, the dissolved limestone (calcium carbonate-I think) cannot be held in solution, so it forms tiny 'blue' crystals that sink to the bottom.

As that super-saline discharge gets pushed up the Gulf into shallower and therefore naturally warmer water, more and more of the dissolved solids will precipitate out. And to what degree is chemical pollution concentrated in the discharge?

Also, if the discharge is not being dispersed by strong tidal movement, how long before it is getting drawn back into the De-sal Plant via its own intake pipe? Surely this has been considered in the initial design...surely...pleeeeeease.....

The De-Salination Plant is the massive White Elephant carcass stinking up the waterhole. With forecasts for drier trending long-term weather patterns, is Adelaide going to be forced to drink from that fetid puddle? Noooo...they're going to drain the Murray...no, wait...they're going to do both....hilarious...poison the Gulf producing massively expensive water from a mal-functioning De-sal Plant and destroy the Murray and Lower Lakes with wiers and withdrawals.

Just heard the Katter Party's SA rep (name...?, sorry) saying 'let the Lower Lakes go saline again and more water for irrigators in the Eastern states'....just super....Premier Jay Weatherill is saying Adelaide is going to draw it's water from the Murray, and Katter wants more from the same river for irrigators.

Good thing that the Murray River is a magic river where unicorn bunyips frolic in the pristine waters bubbling from the mystical Spring of In-exhaustable Resource that....what?....not magic?...no mystical spring of?...not?......but, where is all that water going to come from?...what do you mean you don't know?...hey, I'm talking to you...hey!...

And where is all this water coming from that everyone seems so happy to distribute and re-distribute and distribute just a little bit more? Just how many times can you allocate the same litre of water? And I didn't hear the Katter rep mention plans for another massive drain in the South East, or current drainage, and/or the Coorong.

ICAC - Heard the Commissioner (former Judge) Bruce Landner on ABC Radio last week stating that once an issue was 'in the ICAC', that it is an offence for it to be discussed outside of the ICAC. To what extent is this to be applied? What restrictions on free speech under the guise of the integrity of the ICAC?

This ICAC is just a vehicle to bury the corruption deep, and back it up with government sanctioned sanctions for those whom dare resist.

I entirely reject the authority of the South Australian Independent Commission Against Corruption as a body conceived, designed, and implemented by a corrupt Parliament; it is non-sensical to expect that a corrupt government is going to institute any sort of authority that might hold it to account for anything.
Secret meetings with secret findings means malfeasance remains secret.

I entirely reject the ICAC as having any authority to make any such 'secrecy' ruling with the St Martins Lutheran School Child Abuse Cover-Up Issue.

If I were the Lutherans or the Labor state government, both so desperately keen to continue the St Martins Cover-up, the first thing I would do is 'self-refer' to the ICAC and try to bury it there for umpteen more years.

I don't care what these clowns do, I will not allow some-one else to take the St Martins Issue and bury it in the ICAC. I will say what needs to be said as long as it continues to appear to go unheard...and I'm sure I'll get many more letters of support from upstanding citizens like Neville John and Bill DeGaris....

Laters.

This Arvo: TFTIM Former Mt Gambier High School Principal Gary Costello










Monday, April 22, 2013

Two Other Wind Turbine Opinions

I like to refer to Wind Turbines as Wind Assisted Rotary Turbines or WARTs. Financially, visually, physically, socially...they are a blight not a solution.

What do I really think? Pull them all down, and developers and hosts can re-imburse neighbouring properties and communities for the inconvenience and selfishness; if you think it's alright to approve Turbines on your land and take the money without considering how it affects those around you, then you can pay to fix the problem.

This selfishness is being used to manipulate Australians against Australians by their own and/or other governments, international businesses, etc. 

In Australia, we have so much for all, but even this morning, reports state that there are 3 different Economies operating...and South Australia is on the bottom of the pile.

But I digress; a somewhat lazy post today, but I wanted to include both these letters as important to the general debate, and it is far easier than going 'he says, but he says', and Liberal Mitch Williams letter does directly address that of Mr Miles George of Infigen Energy.

I note Mr Williams states that 'Renewable Energy Certificates' can only be claimed after generation, but I understood the issue to be that developers are receiving subsidies ragardless of output...possibly on proposed generation? I will check this...maybe it's both?

This Arvo: I Fish and ICAC












Sunday, April 21, 2013

TFTIM: Labor MLC Ian Hunter

Apologies for late post; got rather long so made it today's.

Mr Hunter has recently regularly had his smug mug in the media on the issue of gay marriage; he apparently travelled to Spain to marry his male partner. He apparently had to leave the great state of South Australia, indeed this great nation, to do so. Now we all apparently need to know his opinion about New Zealand legally recognising gay marriage.

If people choose to get married, or are chosen for one another...(whatever; I suggest that random hook-ups with strangers can be just as problematic as arranged marriages, etc)...then so be it. I don't have a problem with people not being denied legal equality in whatever context.

Interesting thought: is there any such thing as an 'arranged gay marriage'?

I don't care if people are gay, married, both or neither; and I support gay marriage if that is really what people want to do, even if it is symbolic or a public declaration or whatever...People should have equality under the law.

At the very least there should be a legal civil contract or agreement that a gay couple can access to give them the same legal rights as a heterosexual married couple. Long term gay relationships are a long term reality of human existence and hardly an invention of the 1990s; they should be recognised as such.

I'll let religious organisations bury themselves under an avalanche of self-righteous pontificating hypocrisy  about the sanctity of holy matrimony blah, blah, blah...oh, gee whiz, the Bishop didn't know that priest was a paedophile when he kept moving him from one diocese to another amid multiple complaints and legal actions....blah, blah, blah....as politely as I can muster...sod off...

And a jolly big sod off to Mr Hunter as well....Bully for you champ that you can dodge off out of the state to pursue your personal want that the state doesn't legsislatively provide; pity the children you betrayed, as a member of the Statutory Authorities Review Committee, don't have the same luxury.

Pity they are stuck in schools where they are vulnerable and un-safe in a system that protects itself, the bureacracy, and teachers, indeed literally everybody other than the children, as a direct result of your actions.

When on 5th August 2010 I gave evidence to the SARC Inquiry into the Teachers Registration Board (I believe I may have mentioned it in previous posts) only 3 of the 5 members were present, Chairperson Labor's Carmel Zollo, Liberal Rob Lucas, and Ian Hunter; absent were Independent Anne Bressington and Liberal Terry Stephens.

My direct evidence to Ian Hunter was that the TRB and Crown Solicitor had lied to and manipulated parents, as part of the broader government sanctioned Lutheran cover-up of the abuse of a classful of 7 year olds at St Martins Lutheran School; but I see virtually none of it in the SARC Report no54.

Attached is my letter citing examples of the broader failures and errors of Report no54.

Ian Hunter heard direct evidence from four families and one of the children, and was provided extensive documentation, and then signed his name to the SARC Report no 54; a report that ignores, denies, or drastically mis-represents the realities of the corruption witnessed with St Martins, in an un-disguised bipartisan collaboration to avoid responsibility and protect the perpetrators and the corrupt.

I am sorely tempted to say to Ian Hunter rot in gay hell but I did commit to not being overly abusive and I genuinely believe that gay people have a genuine right to rot in the same hell as anybody else...me included.

Also attached; page 63 of SARC Report no54, summarising some issues. It continues page 64;
          - the TRB refusing to listen to 'hearsay' evidence, even though not being bound by the
            rules of evidence and dealing with the difficulty of obtaining evidence from seven
            year old children; and
          - the inability for them to gain access to the TRB's Reasons for Decision.

I urge readers to access the SARC Report no54 via parliament's Hansard.

This Arvo and/or Tomorrow: More Turbines, Fish, and ICAC  
















Saturday, April 20, 2013

The Three Rotationeers - All For One Forty One

Apologies for going over the same ground again...again, but the Forestry Rotations Sale is a clumsy, obvious privatisation of the entire industry in the South-East specifically named to avoid that reality. Please see previous posts.

The Rann/Weatherill/Foley/Snelling Labor government have completely, deliberately deceived, betrayed and sacrificed the South-East specifically to build the ludicrous Adelaide Oval (and footbridge designed to funnel oval-leavers straight into a soon to be expanded casino); they have repeatedly lied at meetings, in the media, and on the floor of parliament.

Include the Wind Turbine legislation, Water policy (and another massive drain), Shared Services, etc, and the reality is that Labor have effectively withdrawn from SE South Australia, at best privatising the entire community, at worst, selling it directly to their mates and each other via public asset sales, corrupt land re-zonings, dodgy Board positions, and shady shelf companies, etc.

With the bizarre and costly De-Salination Plant, the privatisation of Public Health with the new Adelaide Hospital contract, the State loss of income from Forestry, etc, South Australia's financial future is assured...and it don't take a genius to see the reality...which is why I can see it so clearly....

Spiraling state debt but no income stream....more taxes, more levies....more laws, more fines.....more poverty, more crime....more in-equity, more suffering.....

Medical and dental services are literally years behind services provided in Adelaide, and with the privatisation of the RAH, funding will be drained from everywhere to meet that contractual obligation.

Their behaviour on the Forestry Sale issue show them to be corrupted, deceitful, selfish, and lacking morality.

South Australian parliament is in It's entirety a corrupted, self-indulgent rort mired in paedophilia; not a vehicle for responsible public service. By its definitive position beneath that umbrella, so 'Local government' is tarred wtih the same brush. This is the reality...those who are not perpetrators themselves avert their eyes and/or commit acts of ommission because they have their own career aspirations and/or corrupt pursuits and/or problematic histories, etc.

Genuine Politicians in an actual democracy act for the benefit and prosperity of all citizens; politics in SA is about the personal egos and self-glorification of the individuals involved; SA is already run for the benefit of the CEO (premier/government) and Board (parliament) at the expense of the shareholders (you/me/us).

But unfortunately I must conceed the possibility that even a relatively decent person might be obliged to act corruptly to achieve positive change in a corrupt system.....my head hurts....

But I digress drastically; I wanted to address the 'arrival' of new Forestry One Forty One CEO Linda Sewell as covered on ABC Local Radio Morning show with Stan Thompson and in The Border Watch (both 19 April 2013) with a letter from CFMEU Representative Brad Coates.

I urge you to access the ABC interview (available at their website under 'Rewind'?-sorry, not sure) and I have included Mr Coates letter (below) because they both cover the same ground, and cover my concerns
about Ms Sewells appointment in a more informed and thorough way than I could re-gurgitate.

I was specifically concerned at Ms Sewell's very brief, clipped reference on the ABC to '5 years' which I understand is the standard log supply contract currently available...with no assurances past that...but I'm sure it'll all be fine....

Two points: My personal Crusade for Humanity (against time, the universe, and reality) aside...I openly acknowledge the critical role that The Border Watch plays in covering these sort of critical issues, in particular the excellent articles by Dr Jerry Leech which I recommend to all; might dig them out as a post.

Similarly the local ABC gets it 95% right, 95% of the time...that's not a bad average by any measure, and is a critical conduit for local issues and information; I'm not that interested in Kalangadoo's footy and netball results (sorry Kalangadoo) but I love to hear they're on....and I can always change to the completely impartial BBC World Service, broadcast on behalf of the Conservative Party.   (The Young Ones-BBC)

It's exactly the WINTV News situation. Adelaide media have virtually ignored the South East, eg, the Saint Martins Lutheran School Child Abuse issue; the Forestry Sale protests and processes; etc.

Secondly, I apologise unreservedly to Ms Sewell for opening a post effectively about her, with another of my spleen-venting rants about the pro-paedophile corruption of South Australia.

Whether her role is one of nurturer...r or wreckerer....r, I do not seek to infere of her any such behaviour or even knowledge; it is strictly about the people and processes that eventuated with Ms Sewell's arrival in Melbourne....yeahhh...it doesn't give you a lot of confidence does it?..Not even going to live in the state, let alone the region.

This Arvo: TFTIM Labor MLC Ian Hunter









Friday, April 19, 2013

Council Meeting 16/04/13

Apologies for another late, repetitive post but went out early, got in late; also therefore quite short.

Thankyou for feed-back; made the same error repeatedly 'goal' instead of 'gaol' (for 'jail'), and I've looked at that I don't know how many times. I also appreciate support 'off-blog' for the 'removed posts issue'; cheers.

Laughed at suggestion the blog looks well researched and organised as I pictured literal wave of paperwork
that starts mid-lounge floor, rises across chairs and lounge, to peak with the distinct threat of cresting and crashing back down from the top of the spare desk; in the gloom of evening it looks like a wave gathering to break into the lounge.

Not much to say about the meeting 16/04/13 because not much happened; a number of usual reports, etc, were tabled and passed. I don't believe that the Old Hospital or Rail Lands were mentioned at all.

The poor public response to the 'Park and Stride' (700 letters-36 replies) led to Councillors discussing why. I find it genuinely concerning that Councillors have this debate with each other time and again, and that at least some of them seem genuinely perplexed as to why no-one responds..

Here, look, I'll help; always looking to help, me....hmmmhm...Is this thing on?...1,2,2...hmmhm...ITS BECAUSE YOU DONT LISTEN TO ANYONE OTHER THAN YOURSELVES, AND THEN DO THINGS LIKE SPEND $12M+ ON THE MAIN CORNER AND GIVE IT TO A COUNCILLOR'S SON FOR FREE, OR THE LADY NELSON BUS SHELTERRR...ELTERRR...ELTerrr..Elterrrr.... elterrr.......elterrr......lterrrr...........

No...it's no...no, it's no good..I don't think they can hear me...ahh, can you turn it up at all?...to 11 you say......hit it...IT'S BECAUSE YOU SPENT OVER $1.5M ON A POINTLESS MOVIE AND SOME LIGHTS INSTEAD OF A COVERED POOL, TENNIS COURTS, AND PUBLIC TRANSPORT TO ACCESS THEMMM....HEMMM...Hemmm....hemmm......emmm......mmm....

No...still no good...I don't think...no, no-one's turned round...anything else?...a bullhorn?....that's not going to...oh, you mean speak...through this intO THE MICROPHONEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
OOOHH hhhohwoah...sorry...sorry...hehe...SORRY...sorry...no, yes, I'll stand back a bit...sorry...hmhmm ITS BECAUSE WHEN PEOPLE SPEAK OUT YOU EITHER IGNORE OR ATTACK THEMMM...HEMMM...HEMMM...HEmmm...emmm.....emmm.....mmm.......

No...it's no good...they're not going to turn around....

Please review previous posts re Lady Nelson Bus Shelter Issue, the Rail Lands Retail, the Main Corner, etc.
The recent post with maps/plans clearly illustrate the reality that has dominated Mt Gambier planning since 2005; certain people's (Council's) plans for massive Retail Development on the Rail lands site.

I re-iterate: there has been a specific Council agenda  to keep the site clear for Retail Development, and this has driven Council's every Planning and Development decision.

This Agenda has caused the Big W/Bunnings/Penola Rd/Millicent Rd fiasco, placement of the Library and Bus Shelter, the Main Corner Project, etc, but does not explain why Council went past all the critical things it should have done, eg, covered pool, to spend the outrageous amounts it did on the frivolous and un-neccesary lights and movie for the Main Corner.

The 'DaVinci Exhibition' got a guernsey along with the usual bumf about how this justifies the Main Corner blah, blah, blah...but Council is only underwriting the exhibition for $30,000 what they claim it will be a massively popular and profitable venture. Why not use this alleged opportunity to try and re-coup some small part of the massive cost? Also covered in previous post.

Council unanimously voted for the 'glass partitions and seating' at The Lady Nelson Bus Shelter...I don't know what to say...I don't...I'm speechless...please see previous posts.

The Boundary Adjustment issue was also raised, but I'm not entirely sure as to the progress of that, indeed I'm not sure Council is sure...

Council also did a 'review' of a 'CEO Performance Review' thingy, but they kicked me and the one other person present, out; after 15 minutes I asked Mr Humphries and Mr Sexton if I could get my things which Mr Humphries kindly did, and I left.

Again, please review the various posts re the Rail Lands Agenda. Toodlepip.

Tomorrow: The Three Rotationeers - All For One Forty One (What Our Trees Are)  
and TFTIM: MLC Ian Hunter








Thursday, April 18, 2013

Yorke Peninsula CERES Turbines Submission

Apologies for long, late, repetitive post, and sorry I didn't post before submissions closed today. However, late submissions may be accepted if you feel inclined. Cheers.

The Secretary
Development Assessment Commission
Fax: (08) 8303 0753

Submission: Suzlon/Repower/CERES Yorke Peninsula Wind Turbine Industrial
                    Development

To the Members; Dear Madams/Sirs,

I respectfully oppose the Development Application and ask that the CERES Turbine proposal be refused for many reasons. I am generally opposed to Wind Turbines as an appropriate ‘alternative energy resource’ for several basic reasons.

1)   They guarantee 100% reliance on other forms of generation that must be ‘instantly’ accessed when the wind stops blowing; weather based generation is spasmodic and un-predictable causing massive spikes and drops in supply completely unrelated to demand. What does Adelaide do for electricity during a week long windless heatwave? Import brown coal electricity from Victoria. Solar thermal, geo-thermal, hydro, home solar panels, etc, are all more reliable and appropriate.

2)   Generating electricity 100s if not 1000s of kilometres from where it is used means huge losses during transmission. With the above structure, exporting to Victoria from Yorke Peninsula Turbines and then from Victorian brown coal power stations to Adelaide, there are huge losses that are environmentally unacceptable and costly; a cost that gets passed onto consumers, whom are also paying for all the associated infrastructure.

3)   Without massive taxpayer funded subsidies, Turbines are completely un-economic and will never return a genuine profit. Consumers are paying the companies to erect and run them, paying for the infrastructure via the most expensive energy charges on the planet, and then also paying for other things like $110million for the Heyward Interconnector that is to facilitate the above import/export of electricity.

4)   In South Australia the (Interim) Development Plan Amendment of October 2011 is unquestionably Fascism. The DPA 2011 removes private citizen’s rights to oppose in any way Turbine development, and denies any access to the Courts and/or appeal. This is the dictionary definition of Fascism. It was titled ‘Interim’ but was immediately implemented and hundreds of Turbines were approved under that legislation.

5)   Changes to ‘Visual Amenity’ provisions for the finalised DPA 2012, legislates to remove the clause that stopped the Acciona Allendale Project and led directly to the IDPA 2011. These changes set VA provisions as acceptable at 1km from non-host homes, to be addressed by the ludicrous and already discredited ‘screening’ of massive 100m+ high Turbines with plants. This is legislation deliberately designed and applied to remove the single legal right that citizens still had.

6)   Set back distances from non-host homes of only 1km allow often non-resident land holders to ‘host’ (for $1000s) Turbines right on boundary lines. This has an impact on land values, and compromises development and cropping, etc, of non-host properties.

There are also many well-known safety issues with disintegrating Turbines, fires in and/or near Turbines, etc, that the Labor state government openly acknowledge with special legislation for increased set-backs for the safety of tourists at lookouts, etc, and for ‘Visual Amenity’ issues in the Barossa, etc, but chooses to completely ignore when it comes to Turbines only 1km from peoples homes elsewhere in the state.

Literally, more than 2 hrs drive from Adelaide and it’s a completely different state; and not just on Turbine legislation.

7)   Non-host land values are affected without compensation, and this is being increasingly identified in several recent Court findings and Council ratings where land values have been lowered with specific reference to proposed Turbine development.

8)   Health issues with ‘subsonic’ or Infrasound are still only just being acknowledged by authorities like the Environmental Protection Agency who have previously dismissed this as an absolute non-reality, but are now (after relentless pressure from Turbine opponents and other concerned citizens) doing very limited testing of one small site (Waterloo).

I have no confidence at all in the efficacy and/or professionalism and/or independence of the EPA: they are a government agency doing government business; and that means Yes to Turbines no matter what. There must be genuinely independent testing done immediately and over many months, not a fortnight like the EPA’s study.

9)   Turbines are deadly to birds, particularly raptors like Wedge-Tail Eagles, Kestrels,etc. The recently approved Millicent Turbine Development allegedly has EPA approval to kill over 800 Ibis every year. Acciona employ a Ranger to monitor bird deaths at their Waubra site.

10)  Dealing with fires in/and or around Turbines is literally impossible; the Country Fire Service acknowledges that they cannot reach/fight fires in the smallest Turbines, and safety issues of disintegration, burning gear oil, etc, mean that crews are not allowed closer than that minimum 1km distance. I believe it may now be further.

Those same safety issues plus turbulence and visibility issues makes Aerial surveillance and/or bombing completely un-usable; I believe that pilot’s have refused to fly near Turbines. This greatly impacts on the safety of people living amongst or near Turbines, ground crews, etc, and completely compromises the CFS’s ability to combat any fire.

In such a massive development a huge fire could develop with no way at all of fighting it, and given prevailing conditions (Northerlies, etc) any such fire would threaten the entire Southern half of Yorke Peninsula. On ‘Catastrophic Fire Days’ virtually the entire Peninsula would have to be evacuated.

11) The above issues also impact Aerial crop spraying, again affecting neighbours who cannot safely access large areas of their own property.

12)  Set-back distances of 1km removes a non-hosts ability to develop their own property, particularly where Turbines can be currently built right on boundaries if there’s not already a structure across the fence, eg, if you had planned to build a shed, or house for the in-laws, etc, in the top paddock but a Turbine is placed across the fence, you cannot build a house in the ‘shadow’.

The legislation is effectively ‘Compulsory Acquisition’ of neighbouring property on behalf of Turbine developers and hosts, without compensation for the affected non-host residents. It is outrageous. Set-backs should be minimum 5km from a host boundary so as to allow for safety and development on associated properties.

13)  I also have grave concerns about the Board structures and personal associations of many of the companies and developers; in short, I believe that Turbines are a wholly in-appropriate generation source and the associated subsidies are effectively a rort.

14)  Specific to CERES Yorke Peninsula, there are also serious concerns to be investigated as to the financial position of Suzlon and subsidiary Repower, and their conduct and position on other projects, and their genuine motivations for this project. It appears that Suzlon may be using this project to ‘prop-up’ other companies and/or projects.

I request that the Commission review these financial conditions for themselves.

I am opposed to Turbines in their entirety and see very little genuine application for them in a Renewable Energy solution to current problems.

I am just listening to reports that Goyder Council have ‘approved’ the Stony Gap Project that the Council’s own Development Assessment Panel had rejected. The company (Energy Australia?) was able to appeal the decision whereas had the DAP originally approved the project, residents would not have had any way to appeal.

The companies get an appeal but citizens don’t. This is outrageous and unacceptable legislation. Then the Council goes off and contradicts their own DAP by reaching an ‘out of Court’ agreement. Democracy be damned.

I request that the Commission (a) refuse the application for CERES and (b) call for a moratorium on all developments and applications pending appropriate investigation and resolution of the above multiple issues.

Yours truly,


Nick Fletcher                                                          18 April 2013

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Mt Gambier Rail Lands - Council's Plans

As per previous posts, these are the plans showing multiple Retail Development Plans that successive City Councils have presented before the 'Parklands Concept Plan' of November 2011. Sorry about formatting problems but the maps are the important things.

The first was presented as a double sided glossy flyer for the meetings July 2005.

The next two are from the 30 page professional report/plans presented by Design Inc at the meetings on February 28th 2006, showing two (of three) slightly different designs for the same thing - massive Retail Development but no parking. Council presented it's own plan but I don't have a copy.

The next four articles are all from The Border Watch, but in confused order (sorry). "Where is bus terminal?" and "Editorial" are from March 01 2006 about the meetings, and the other two are from April 20 2006 re Council meeting and Rail lands.

The last one is what Council had on its website from at least 2008 until late 2010 when I made this copy.







Famous Fisho Fingers Fall-out For Fishy Fatalities and Recent Paedophile Stories

Sort of two posts in one. I apologise unreservedly for being so flippant in previous post about the fish and dolphin die-offs near Adelaide; just listening to respected fisher/commentator Greg James on ABC Radio saying that he's never seen anything like it and this is verging on a disaster, a "catastrophe"; more than two dozen dolphins dead (that they know of, so far) and 10's of 1,000s of dead fish, so far...I've heard him before on the ABC, and this time he sounded genuinely upset and very, very concerned...in fact, he said as much.

He identified some of the species in the wash-ups and several species under general stress (Snapper LeatherJackets, Whiting-all fish, and Blue Crabs)  but I'm not sure exactly which was which other than one wash-up was many 1,000s of baby LeatherJackets. (I missed part of the interview; might be on ABC Local Radio, Annette Marner's show 16/04/13.)

He openly rejected claims of "an algal bloom", and said it was probaly a combination of factors and about how we mis-treat the Gulfs, particularly with polluted fall-out/run-off, particularly from the Onkaparinga River and 3 de-sal plants. (And Torrens River, etc). This is exactly what I suggested to be the case in my previous post, but again, it's not about how clever I am but how simple truths are simply realised.

George Pell - Considered by many people to be exactly what is so chronically, criminally, and un-acceptably wrong with the self-justifying, self-grandising, and sickeningly self-satisfied patriarchal animal that is the Catholic Church (thank goodness for the Lutherans,eh), George Pell has been at the centre of multiple abuse issues in Australia denying his little heart out with flustered indignation...bless you George...

But it's all going to be ok because Pope Frank has appointed George to the church's own internal panel/committee/sect...whatever... that's going to rejuvenate and refresh the Church and blahhhhhhhhh...

George Pell; the Archbishop (Bishop?...whatever...) who is responsible for the exact sort of malfeasance that he then has the bare-faced gall to go before the world's media and say that he and Frank are going to address; but only after he takes time out from criticising the Child Abuse Royal Commission for picking on the Catholics....deadset...and a nice segue.

Child Abuse Royal Commission - Several Child Protection groups have been quoted through the media identifying that one of the Commissioners is a senior Catholic layperson, who was on several Catholic Boards, and has an 'honourary doctorate' (?I think-some honourary degree) from the 'Catholic University that he lectures at'.

Only months ago he was apparently mentioned in Catholic correspondence as a super-dooper Catholic.

It has been openly requested that this person be removed/remove themselves from the Commission because of the obvious and massive conflict of interests of having any senior member of any church involved at all, let alone the Catholics, let alone the trauma to those who might wish to engage with the Commission but end up with a representative of the institution that has fostered their abuser, covered up that abuse, and even now will still try to deny and protect...try and epic fail...

The Royal Commission that has been set up to address issues of "institutionalised" child abuse and cover-up and failure of official authorities, etc, is set up with a former Queensland Police Commissioner and a Senior Catholic as 2 of the 6 Commissioners...set up to fail...an absolute disgrace.

So two of six Commissioners in an Inquiry of 'Institutionalised Abuse and Cover-up' are senior representatives of two of the institutions to be 'investigated'.

It is an exact replica of the Mullighan Inquiry that was originally established with Bill Morris as lead investigator and that nearly collapsed before it started when Child Protection Activists and victims found out and threatened to boycott. Morris was then replaced with the head of the SAPol Police Union.

Bill Morris is notorious for his associations with goaled paedophile magistrate Peter Liddy and others, and is now a magistrate himself; for a while in Mt Gambier. Adelaide's Channel 7 Today Tonight did a full program on Peter Liddy and outright named Morris as one of the people who stole Court seized assets from Liddy's house, at the direction of Eugene Magee, Liddy's lawyer.......I love Adelaide.......

Which all segues rather unpleasantly into the front page story from The Border Watch 10/04/2013 which mentions Peter Liddy...

Paedophile Faces Strict Conditions - I always get a little nervous about media stories that do not identify the writer and quote un-identified "government spokesman"; who at TBW spoke to who from the Dept of Correctional Services. I'm not a journalist, but I'm quietly confident that 'Who?' is one of the 'sacred W's'; what, where, WHO, when, why...Apart from that, TBW is to be congratulated for engaging with the reality of this very unsatisfactory and unpleasant aspect of our community.

I've attached the article rather than quote it.

Why is it front page news that someone is getting released from prison? Why does the article need to state that this person is not going to get released into Mt Gambier? Why go into a long explanation about all of the measures in place "to minimise any risk to the public" that makes releasing this person acceptable?

Again, this issue is one that I have addressed in a previous post, and I've been going at the local media about, but again it is not my brilliance but just the reality.

And don't believe me; research yourself what 'Recidivism' means (repeat offender, likely to offend again). This person is clearly a recidivist who is capable of going into a primary school to assault/rape a small child; how is ever releasing this particular person appropriate? All of this cost and effort to release someone who is almost certain to offend again.

What about the rights of every child to be able to attend school safe from a man who is likely to go there and rape them? What about their rights? The rights of every child vs the rights of one man who has re-nigged on his right to compassion? Whatever his specific 'issues', how is releasing him the right thing to do?

What sort of lunatics (as one nutter to a bowlfull) are the Parole Board? What soulless, dis-engaged, legal zombies would even consider releasing this person? I believe lawyer Tim Bourne is still one.

Close personal associate of former Attorney General and current speaker MP Michael Atkinson, Tim Bourne gave Mr Atkinson many $1,000s of free legal advice, and was appointed to the Parole Board late 2005 by the Attorney General's Dept whilst representing parents, and who along with fellow lawyers Peter Humphries and Bill DeGaris handled the 'failed before it even started' legal action against St Martins Lutheran School and teacher Glyn Dorling.

I note with genuine dis-ease how easily those three issues linked together from George Pell, through the CARC, and straight into the apparently institutionalised paedophile corruption of South Australia.

Laters.

This Arvo: Suzson/REPower and CERES Turbine Project
and  At Council Last Night