Welcome to Brazil, South Korea, and the USofA, to this latest 'housekeeping' post across a number of issues...let's get stuck in...
Good on all the Labor ministers for quitting, resigning, retiring, imploding, outgoing, deserting, etc, because I'd just about learned all your names and now you're sliding off away from accountability and I have to learn a whole bunch of new names...thanks for record national debt and not much else...
Just another week of Federal Election discourse through the local media and not one word in The Border Watch newspaper about me as a Candidate, and I believe no messages read out and certainly no air time on ABC Radio, local or otherwise...I rarely get any time or messages read out on any ABC program lately...my reputation clearly proceeds me.
And call me a vain, arrogant, paranoid idiot, but I absolutely guarantee you that the pressure is on across the board, from the top down, to discredit, attack, abuse, and/or ignore me...and both because it is me as much as it is also what I say, and the fact that the two things are synonymous.
For me, this 'excising' from the media is 1) symptomatic of so much about what is wrong with Mt Gambier and South Australia in general...corrupt and/or weak people scrambling about in their own filth desperately looking for someone else to blame, and 2) the greatest confirmation that what I do and say has become a problem...because the truth is a problem.
It appears that TBW intends to make good it's promise that I will be getting no Election coverage at all, and when it comes to me, the ABC is equally biased and compromised...see Tomorrow's post...and a lovely segue into...
Forestry: On ABC Radio's Friday morning program 28/06/13, there was a long interview with this weeks Minister for Manufacturing, Innovation and Trade, Tom Kenyon that sounded yet again like announcer Stan Thompson was blithely reading off a prepared list of 'Dorothy Dixers' (set up questions for propaganda style answers), to which Tom Kenyon had his carefully prepared answers.
Worst, was the happy question/observation from Stan Thompson that 'we wouldn't be getting this money for these projects if it wasn't for the Forestry Sale' (paraphrase) followed by Tom Kenyon reeling out his spiel about 'the state government's commitment to manufacturing and the Forestry Industry...'...(may I?...blah, blah, blah-Ed)...and 'the commitment to invest from that sale money'...(blah, blah, blah-Ed)...
Cynical I may be, but I'm not the only one..the news that NF McDonnell (Timber Mill) willl receive exactly half of the $8.6million of current 'Forestry Industry Grants' has been met with deep cynicism, disappointment and even anger...may I refer to my previous post 'The Judas Goat of SE Forestry' because it has been referenced back to me as the 'prequel post' for this $4.2million windfall for NF McDonnell.
As per that post, NF McDonnell is receiving preferential treatment from the Labor state government so that their success can be used to make other businesses look bad and therefore hide the reality of the problems caused by the Forestry Sale...the Judas Goat...
Mt Gambier City Council - Following all of the Budget meetings, five 'Public Consultations' and the two 'Special Council Meetings', there has been much talk from Council, and TBW, about listening to rate-payers and adjusting the Budget, expenditure, etc...but I do not believe that they are genuine about this.
I re-iterate that Council has every intention of moving ahead with the borrowing, they have already increased their capacity to do so, and doing exactly whatever they want, and the rates are still going up massively, and the Rail Lands will sit there despite the now $1.7million that the State government have suddenly and mysteriously 'granted' Mt Gambier under the 'Open Space and Places for People' grants...two sudden grants in six months...curiouser and curiouser...
It is an old trick to set the mark well beyond what you actually intend to do and then pull it back a bit and say 'see, we listen to you'...not the oldest trick in the book but an early chapter all it's own.
And Council has done this with several projects, eg, the large 'Blue Glass Tower' original design for the Main Corner that everyone kicked up about, and then pulling back slightly from this plan with the ugly, unjustified 'Riddoch Gallery Front Door/Annex/Wall Thingy' that Council still forced on a community who largely didn't want it...('Thingy'...is that a technical engineering and/or architectural design term, or buzzword, or what?-Ed)...yes, yes it is...
In the Fletcher Dictionary of Linguistic Necessity, 'Thingy' is an accepted terminology for 'That which defies physical definition and has no apparent purpose or justification'...following other words like Fasocracy, Pariahtisation, and Disengenderous (previous posts).
I'll say it again as it is what I'm hearing constantly...many people support the renovation of the Kings Theatre as an historic building of value, but the external 'Thingy' is just a grossly self-indulgent waste of money...as is the external Light Show, the Light Tables, the Commercial Kitchen, and the $650,000 'Volcano' movie.
It's great to see the Cave Gardens Sinkhole all lit up with mood type lighting and music...very ethereal and emotive, but what is the point of a movie on the back of a building where you can't see half of it for the windows now cut into that wall...and how is this Main Corner/Kings Theatre vantage point of the Sinkhole utilised for best views into the Cave?...it isn't!
Three small slit windows that usually have the blinds drawn because of the movies playing inside, and from the Annex Thingy, one window at the back-end of the Mezzanine Level, that can't actually see into the Cave anyway, with a large down pipe right down the middle...
I know I keep harping on about it, but who puts a down pipe down the middle of a window...it's simply bizarre...and matches the downpipes clearly visible in the ugly steel pillars of the 'Thingy' verandah...it's not 'Minimalist', or 'Industrial Realism', or 'Clean Design' or anything other than ugly...cheap, nasty, and ugly...but I digress...
Lady Nelson Bus Shelter: Is now apparently open and ready for business, just so long as it's not wet, cold, windy, and/or hot...(and/or hot?-Ed)...yes, it can be very bot and very windy, or cold and wet but still, etc...(fair enough-Ed)...and according to several articles in TBW this 'completion' now lays to rest the whole ugliness and corruption and deceit of the matter...let's all move on...damned if I will...
Please see previous posts re the Rail Lands Retail Agenda and why the Bus Shelter (and I use the term 'shelter' advisedly) is where it is.
It is a shocking waste of money, in the wrong place, because of Council's unrelenting obsession with the RLRA.
Elsewhere in town people are still standing sans shelter or seating whilst they wait for a Public local bus that may or may not be running...no buses before 9am and none after 5pm and none at all on weekends or public holidays...and not one cent from Council to improve this situation...whilst it gives the Riddoch/Main Corner over $700,000 a year...disgraceful...(careful, you're sounding like Alan Jones-Ed)...ah. now, there's no call for that sort of abuse thankyou...
More shenanigans...
Tomorrow: Rory McEwen and the ABC
Think I've been whining and/or unfair about the ABC?..here's a post about Rory getting me effectively 'banned' off the ABC because he didn't like what I said...this is My Blog and I am Nick Fletcher...made in Australia from Imported Ingredients...laters...
Sunday, June 30, 2013
Saturday, June 29, 2013
More St Martins Abuse Issue Documents: Comm Ted Mullighan
Hello...just a very short post because of the several letters, but a few points...and Ed is having a day off...(do I still get paid?-Ed)...you don't get paid...you're not real...you don't actually exist...how can you 'get paid'?...(oh, well, if you're going to be like that about it-Ed)...
In previous posts I have referred to the practice of building up people's hope in say, announcing good milk gate prices, and then not delivering that, and doing this repeatedly, and how it was done to break people and/or businesses, and how it was done to us parents over and over again re the abuse of our children at St Martins Lutheran School.
Commissioner Ted Mullighan did it to us over and over. I have referred to these letters and included some quotes in other posts, eg, TFTIM Comm Mullighan. Apologies for any unnecessary repetition.
These letters (only some of many) show this pattern of behaviour of promise and drag, promise and drag, and when push comes to shove, it's all our fault...according to Comm Mullighan.
The letter from MP Rory McEwen (23 February 2006) that Comm Mullighan refers to in his response 14 March 2006, is clearly just Rory covering his backside weeks out from the March 20th state election, three and a half years after he first promised to help us...
It remains my understanding that there were 'Children in State Care' at St Martins whilst Glyn Dorling was teaching there.
The third letter below is actually a short letter I typed-up for another parent, and Comm Mulligan's response, both with that parent's details removed...you'll just have to trust me that they are genuine...the parent's letter is dated 6 August 2006 and the response 10 August 2006.
Note the tone of the letter, and Comm Mullighan's furious attempt to distance himself from the legal reality that "an undertaking" is/was exactly what he gave us...and it was always a lie...He mistook the letter for another from me and that's why he is so terse..."you interrogating me" followed by 'don't call me, I'll call you'...charming...
I have this parents specific approval to reproduce these letters...they were not very amused when it happened...
The last two letters show Comm Mullighan getting royally stuck into me...god I'm an arsehole...apparently...and includes the magic word 'defamation', and the outright lie that he couldn't do anything because we parents were not "prepared to be involved"...
This is an outright lie and he knew it when he wrote it...we parents provided him reams of documentation, including multiple Statutory Declarations, attended numerous meetings, etc, starting in February 2005...over 18 months later he says we won't co-operate...and all rounded out with another charming serve of abuse about what a bastard I am...
Again, read this for yourself and decide if you would appreciate being treated like this by some-one who claims to be helping you...
Tomorrow: City Council Budget Progress...or not
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In previous posts I have referred to the practice of building up people's hope in say, announcing good milk gate prices, and then not delivering that, and doing this repeatedly, and how it was done to break people and/or businesses, and how it was done to us parents over and over again re the abuse of our children at St Martins Lutheran School.
Commissioner Ted Mullighan did it to us over and over. I have referred to these letters and included some quotes in other posts, eg, TFTIM Comm Mullighan. Apologies for any unnecessary repetition.
These letters (only some of many) show this pattern of behaviour of promise and drag, promise and drag, and when push comes to shove, it's all our fault...according to Comm Mullighan.
The letter from MP Rory McEwen (23 February 2006) that Comm Mullighan refers to in his response 14 March 2006, is clearly just Rory covering his backside weeks out from the March 20th state election, three and a half years after he first promised to help us...
It remains my understanding that there were 'Children in State Care' at St Martins whilst Glyn Dorling was teaching there.
The third letter below is actually a short letter I typed-up for another parent, and Comm Mulligan's response, both with that parent's details removed...you'll just have to trust me that they are genuine...the parent's letter is dated 6 August 2006 and the response 10 August 2006.
Note the tone of the letter, and Comm Mullighan's furious attempt to distance himself from the legal reality that "an undertaking" is/was exactly what he gave us...and it was always a lie...He mistook the letter for another from me and that's why he is so terse..."you interrogating me" followed by 'don't call me, I'll call you'...charming...
I have this parents specific approval to reproduce these letters...they were not very amused when it happened...
The last two letters show Comm Mullighan getting royally stuck into me...god I'm an arsehole...apparently...and includes the magic word 'defamation', and the outright lie that he couldn't do anything because we parents were not "prepared to be involved"...
This is an outright lie and he knew it when he wrote it...we parents provided him reams of documentation, including multiple Statutory Declarations, attended numerous meetings, etc, starting in February 2005...over 18 months later he says we won't co-operate...and all rounded out with another charming serve of abuse about what a bastard I am...
Again, read this for yourself and decide if you would appreciate being treated like this by some-one who claims to be helping you...
Tomorrow: City Council Budget Progress...or not
Is making the same old deliberate and costly mistakes any sort of progress?...I am Nick Fletcher, and apparently I'm the problem, and so is this blog...laters
Friday, June 28, 2013
Rail Lands Shenanigans Again My Friends
Hello Israel, Poland, South Korea, and Thailand...and a completely un-intentional bazinga re yesterday's post and my hilarious bit about 'here in Australia, not Austria'.
Apparently the Ghana Times has made that exact error in it's reporting of the Gillard/Rudd Labor leadership change taking place in 'Austria'...ich bin ein Down Underer...(whaaa?-Ed)...I am an Australian...you know, the famous JF Kennedy speech from the Berlin Wall...(but the Berlin Wall is in Germany, not Austria-Ed)...now you're just being pedantic...
A partial apology for what I feel has been a bit of a drop in the standard of my blog, but the 'post June long weekend malaise' re St Martins (previous posts) is a demanding and irresistible Master...I've been trying to maintain a reasonable standard of post, but my general disposition is one of banking steeply in a holding pattern over quiet fury and depression, played out to a 'white noise white-out' sound track of flat-lining emotion...it's Groundhog Day style deja-vu all over again once more...(that's some tortuous tautology right there-Ed)...
The good news as always is that I know that it's happening, and that it gets better after a few weeks to a month...back to vaguely normal sleep patterns, proper eating, etc.
In my own defence, I refer you to any of the many previous posts on the St Martins Lutheran School Child Abuse Cover-up.
And on the subject of tautology, I also apologise for some repetition in my blog but it is a problem catering for those who might have just read that one post while not boring those who are regular readers, and all whilst thoroughly addressing the same issues being re-hashed through the media, etc...the upside is that readers can back-track through and/or follow the progression of the issues...and again I genuinely appreciate the feedback I'm getting 'off-blog'...
And I also suffer that very modern illness that is trying to be a one person media monitor to the degree that it takes on those exact 'white-noise' characteristics...who do you believe?...that is pretty much what it boils down to...
The shenanigans continue with Mt Gambier City Council's Rail Lands Retail Agenda and Budget Consultation (both in previous posts) with the sudden and apparently unexpected announcement of more state government funding and the alleged clarification of the 'Deed issues' that have allegedly stalled the reclamation and re-development of the alleged Rail Lands Parkland Concept...(you're going all 'allegedly' again...please explain-Ed)...certainly.
I say allegedly because, as per previous posts, the City Council has always and in all ways fought tooth and nail, deceived and distracted, mis-informed and mis-represented to maintain the Rail Lands Retail Agenda, that is, to develop a large Commercial/Retail expansion of the Lakes/Centro Plaza on that site.
In previous posts I have repeatedly outlined many of the development decisions around Mt Gambier, eg, the placement of Bunnings, Big W, The Main Corner, the Library, and most especially the Lady Nelson Bus Shelter.
I have also provided the various plans as prepared by Council.
Now the Rail Lands is the one project that Council has 'compromised' on and spread out over two years now, so that'll go on next years Budget...just super...
The attached article from The Border Watch Wednesday 26th June 2013 refers to the state government indicating that "it will hand over all surplus rail infrastructure" to the City Council, but does not explain if that means Council is still liable for the cost of replacement of anything they remove, that is, if Council pulls up the rails and/or moves the Easement, is Council still responsible to pay for their replacement in the event rail returns?
This is a specific issue previously identified as a reason for Council's failure to proceed with the Parklands Concept Plan November 2011, or indeed any development of the site since July 2005...other than to re-zone it Commercial/Retail/Public Use...which I believe can only be done with state government approval.
Easy way round this 'faux problem'...develop the site without removing anything and leave the rails and Easement and all buildings right where they are, and renovate the Old Rail Station...and do it before it accidentally gets bulldozed at midnight like the infamous House of Chow in Adelaide.
This of course should already have happened (the Parkland, not the bulldozing) and there should already be a well established Botanic Gardens with Parklands, Amphitheatre, etc, on the Rail Lands site...and every reason, every excuse, every delay, is a contrived deceit in pursuit of the Rail Lands Retail Agenda.
As I said, please refer previous posts.
Tomorrow: RLSAMF Part II - The Budget
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers...oh, and sorry about scan below, the missing words are 'Full steam ahead, and 'Rail corridor...'
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Apparently the Ghana Times has made that exact error in it's reporting of the Gillard/Rudd Labor leadership change taking place in 'Austria'...ich bin ein Down Underer...(whaaa?-Ed)...I am an Australian...you know, the famous JF Kennedy speech from the Berlin Wall...(but the Berlin Wall is in Germany, not Austria-Ed)...now you're just being pedantic...
A partial apology for what I feel has been a bit of a drop in the standard of my blog, but the 'post June long weekend malaise' re St Martins (previous posts) is a demanding and irresistible Master...I've been trying to maintain a reasonable standard of post, but my general disposition is one of banking steeply in a holding pattern over quiet fury and depression, played out to a 'white noise white-out' sound track of flat-lining emotion...it's Groundhog Day style deja-vu all over again once more...(that's some tortuous tautology right there-Ed)...
The good news as always is that I know that it's happening, and that it gets better after a few weeks to a month...back to vaguely normal sleep patterns, proper eating, etc.
In my own defence, I refer you to any of the many previous posts on the St Martins Lutheran School Child Abuse Cover-up.
And on the subject of tautology, I also apologise for some repetition in my blog but it is a problem catering for those who might have just read that one post while not boring those who are regular readers, and all whilst thoroughly addressing the same issues being re-hashed through the media, etc...the upside is that readers can back-track through and/or follow the progression of the issues...and again I genuinely appreciate the feedback I'm getting 'off-blog'...
And I also suffer that very modern illness that is trying to be a one person media monitor to the degree that it takes on those exact 'white-noise' characteristics...who do you believe?...that is pretty much what it boils down to...
The shenanigans continue with Mt Gambier City Council's Rail Lands Retail Agenda and Budget Consultation (both in previous posts) with the sudden and apparently unexpected announcement of more state government funding and the alleged clarification of the 'Deed issues' that have allegedly stalled the reclamation and re-development of the alleged Rail Lands Parkland Concept...(you're going all 'allegedly' again...please explain-Ed)...certainly.
I say allegedly because, as per previous posts, the City Council has always and in all ways fought tooth and nail, deceived and distracted, mis-informed and mis-represented to maintain the Rail Lands Retail Agenda, that is, to develop a large Commercial/Retail expansion of the Lakes/Centro Plaza on that site.
In previous posts I have repeatedly outlined many of the development decisions around Mt Gambier, eg, the placement of Bunnings, Big W, The Main Corner, the Library, and most especially the Lady Nelson Bus Shelter.
I have also provided the various plans as prepared by Council.
Now the Rail Lands is the one project that Council has 'compromised' on and spread out over two years now, so that'll go on next years Budget...just super...
The attached article from The Border Watch Wednesday 26th June 2013 refers to the state government indicating that "it will hand over all surplus rail infrastructure" to the City Council, but does not explain if that means Council is still liable for the cost of replacement of anything they remove, that is, if Council pulls up the rails and/or moves the Easement, is Council still responsible to pay for their replacement in the event rail returns?
This is a specific issue previously identified as a reason for Council's failure to proceed with the Parklands Concept Plan November 2011, or indeed any development of the site since July 2005...other than to re-zone it Commercial/Retail/Public Use...which I believe can only be done with state government approval.
Easy way round this 'faux problem'...develop the site without removing anything and leave the rails and Easement and all buildings right where they are, and renovate the Old Rail Station...and do it before it accidentally gets bulldozed at midnight like the infamous House of Chow in Adelaide.
This of course should already have happened (the Parkland, not the bulldozing) and there should already be a well established Botanic Gardens with Parklands, Amphitheatre, etc, on the Rail Lands site...and every reason, every excuse, every delay, is a contrived deceit in pursuit of the Rail Lands Retail Agenda.
As I said, please refer previous posts.
Tomorrow: RLSAMF Part II - The Budget
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers...oh, and sorry about scan below, the missing words are 'Full steam ahead, and 'Rail corridor...'
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Labor Pains: Birth Of A Notion
Hello world, welcome to the blog...and yes, that title is spelled correctly...(how many bad puns can you get in one sentence?-Ed)...heaps...obviously...
Yes world, it's true...last night Australia changed Prime Minister outside of an actual election for the second time in three years...(Austria?...why are you writing about Austria?-Ed)...no, no, not Austria, Australia...we're a little country in the Southern Hemisphere...(in the oven bathysphere?...what are you talking about?-Ed)...
What I'm talking about is the fundamental irrelevance to the rest of the world of that which was all-consuming last night in our small corner of the planet...irrelevant because this will change virtually nothing headed into the possibly sooner but possibly later than September 14th 2013 Federal election and an apparently inevitable change to a Tony Abbott led Liberal government...(oh dear god-Ed)...indeed...
Even with former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd (deposed by Julia Gillard only months out from the 2010 Federal election) back at the helm, having re-deposed Julia Gillard only months out from the 2013 election, the good ship Labor is still floundering and headed for the rocks...(even with The Rudder returned?-Ed)...nice, and yes even with a new Rudder...that is the old Rudder...(Ruddy heck...and do you suppose that he was always predisposed to re-depose?-Ed)...hey, I'll do the witty illiteration 'round here thanks...but yes Mr Rudd has clearly been angling for this ever since 2010...
Before the official announcement this change back to the K-Man became obvious to anyone watching the news yesterday when Labor power-broker and now not so 'Faceless Man' Bill Shorten publicly declared his support for Mr Rudd, but I couldn't hear what Mr Shorten was actually saying because Alan Jones's screeching orgasm from Sydney drowned him out...(let me explain...Alan Jones is a Sydney based radio 'shock-jock' who has made no secret of his loathing for Julia Gillard, whom he hates just slightly more than Kevin Rudd...oh, and the 'faceless men' are the factional power-brokers in the Labor Party-Ed)...thankyou Ed...
This declaration of support from Mr Shorten was a massive about face given that Mr Shorten was one of the key players in deposing Mr Rudd in 2010, has been a vocal supporter of Ms Gillard ever since, and as late as yesterday morning his office was still declaring support for her...lunch is apparently a long time in politics...
Locally it is not likely to effect the outcome of the election in this the safe Liberal seat of Barker.
Just listening to the ABC Local Radio 'Rural Report' discussing local implications for the Agricultural sector of suddenly having an as yet un-named new Agriculture Minister...(interviewee suggests Simon Crean might return to that position...he has the experience-Ed)...could be, could be...and we could be going to the election sooner...or possibly later...or possibly on the same day...
And the rupturing of factional fault lines in Labor has seen six Front bench Ministers quit (including Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig and Treasurer Wayne Swan) because they loathe Kevin Rudd, so Labor's Cabinet is in dis-array and no-one really knows who is doing what or will get what, or if the Governor General Quentin Bryce will approve this change (although I think she is obliged to by 'convention')...(gee, there sure is a lot of stuff done 'on convention' in Australian Politics-Ed)...indeed there is, but that is the case in most Democratic sysytems.
Tony Abbott has been howling for an early election, but given that the GG has (now) recognised Kevin Rudd as Prime Minister it is down to him, Mr Rudd, to call the date...or leave it as it is set for September.
Mr Abbott is however incorrect in stating that 'the people of Australia have a right to choose their leader, instead of the 'faceless men' doing it' (paraphrase)...there is no direct voting for the position of Prime Minister, it is purely convention that a party campaigns for an election with a leader who will by a natural progression become the Prime Minister.
However, if that person does not win their seat, as with incumbent Prime Minister John Howard at the 2007 Federal election, then they are out because government is formed in the Lower House and members must be elected...but what about former New South Wales Labor Premier Bob Carr being appointed as Foreign Minister I hear you ask...he wasn't elected you say...true.
In the Senate (Upper House) the votes are distributed by party not individual, except of course in the case of Independents like Nick Xenophon and John Madigan, so with the retirement of one Labor Senator the party had the right to simply appoint their choice, even from outside the parliament...the Liberal/National Party in Queensland did roughly the same thing by appointing Mr Campbell Newman as Party leader from outside the parliament, but he wasn't Premier until after an election...
But I digress; Kevin Rudd is apparently literally on his way as I type to the Governor-General's residence so that she may swear at him...(I think you mean 'swear him in', don't you?-Ed)...I know what I mean...in the incestuous world of Austrralian Politics, I cannot imagine that Mr Rudd is Ms Bryce's fav person...(please explain-Ed)...cheeky...(that famous phrase is from former professional Xenophobe MP Pauline Hanson).
Bill Shorten's wife (sorry I don't know her name) Mrs Shorten? (sorry) is Quentin Bryce's daughter and head of the 'Women For Gillard' group/movement...now her partner/husband has lowered the boom on Ms Gillard after years of supporting her...all very messy and unpleasant I'm sure.
But still not as messy and unpleasant as for us the electorate...these are the people who are supposedly running the country on our behalf, and yet they seem far more interested in shafting each other around issues of internal factional loyalty and personal dislikes...what about us...HEY, WHAT ABOUT US...anybody?...anything...hello...
The reality remains that even with a major disaster looming at the next election, Mr Rudd still had 45 members voting against him, and it appears that the only thing that got him over the line this time was the support of Bill Shorten...and the proof is seen in numerous ministers quitting and a number retiring...
Mr Rudd has to go to the election with a largely untested team of new faces, up against the experience of the Abbott led Liberals.
Now Parliament has risen for the last time before the election, and the whole country is sort of coasting to what seems to be a foregone conclusion.
I don't have any witty quips or pithy observations because it all seems to be over already...just listening to Steven Smith saying that he will retire at the election as well.
Tomorrow: More Rail Lands Shenanigans
All of a sudden it's raining government grants in Mt Gambier...very odd...very suspicious...(yes, we know you are-Ed)...hilarious...I am Nick Fletcher and I am odd and this is my blog.
Yes world, it's true...last night Australia changed Prime Minister outside of an actual election for the second time in three years...(Austria?...why are you writing about Austria?-Ed)...no, no, not Austria, Australia...we're a little country in the Southern Hemisphere...(in the oven bathysphere?...what are you talking about?-Ed)...
What I'm talking about is the fundamental irrelevance to the rest of the world of that which was all-consuming last night in our small corner of the planet...irrelevant because this will change virtually nothing headed into the possibly sooner but possibly later than September 14th 2013 Federal election and an apparently inevitable change to a Tony Abbott led Liberal government...(oh dear god-Ed)...indeed...
Even with former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd (deposed by Julia Gillard only months out from the 2010 Federal election) back at the helm, having re-deposed Julia Gillard only months out from the 2013 election, the good ship Labor is still floundering and headed for the rocks...(even with The Rudder returned?-Ed)...nice, and yes even with a new Rudder...that is the old Rudder...(Ruddy heck...and do you suppose that he was always predisposed to re-depose?-Ed)...hey, I'll do the witty illiteration 'round here thanks...but yes Mr Rudd has clearly been angling for this ever since 2010...
Before the official announcement this change back to the K-Man became obvious to anyone watching the news yesterday when Labor power-broker and now not so 'Faceless Man' Bill Shorten publicly declared his support for Mr Rudd, but I couldn't hear what Mr Shorten was actually saying because Alan Jones's screeching orgasm from Sydney drowned him out...(let me explain...Alan Jones is a Sydney based radio 'shock-jock' who has made no secret of his loathing for Julia Gillard, whom he hates just slightly more than Kevin Rudd...oh, and the 'faceless men' are the factional power-brokers in the Labor Party-Ed)...thankyou Ed...
This declaration of support from Mr Shorten was a massive about face given that Mr Shorten was one of the key players in deposing Mr Rudd in 2010, has been a vocal supporter of Ms Gillard ever since, and as late as yesterday morning his office was still declaring support for her...lunch is apparently a long time in politics...
Locally it is not likely to effect the outcome of the election in this the safe Liberal seat of Barker.
Just listening to the ABC Local Radio 'Rural Report' discussing local implications for the Agricultural sector of suddenly having an as yet un-named new Agriculture Minister...(interviewee suggests Simon Crean might return to that position...he has the experience-Ed)...could be, could be...and we could be going to the election sooner...or possibly later...or possibly on the same day...
And the rupturing of factional fault lines in Labor has seen six Front bench Ministers quit (including Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig and Treasurer Wayne Swan) because they loathe Kevin Rudd, so Labor's Cabinet is in dis-array and no-one really knows who is doing what or will get what, or if the Governor General Quentin Bryce will approve this change (although I think she is obliged to by 'convention')...(gee, there sure is a lot of stuff done 'on convention' in Australian Politics-Ed)...indeed there is, but that is the case in most Democratic sysytems.
Tony Abbott has been howling for an early election, but given that the GG has (now) recognised Kevin Rudd as Prime Minister it is down to him, Mr Rudd, to call the date...or leave it as it is set for September.
Mr Abbott is however incorrect in stating that 'the people of Australia have a right to choose their leader, instead of the 'faceless men' doing it' (paraphrase)...there is no direct voting for the position of Prime Minister, it is purely convention that a party campaigns for an election with a leader who will by a natural progression become the Prime Minister.
However, if that person does not win their seat, as with incumbent Prime Minister John Howard at the 2007 Federal election, then they are out because government is formed in the Lower House and members must be elected...but what about former New South Wales Labor Premier Bob Carr being appointed as Foreign Minister I hear you ask...he wasn't elected you say...true.
In the Senate (Upper House) the votes are distributed by party not individual, except of course in the case of Independents like Nick Xenophon and John Madigan, so with the retirement of one Labor Senator the party had the right to simply appoint their choice, even from outside the parliament...the Liberal/National Party in Queensland did roughly the same thing by appointing Mr Campbell Newman as Party leader from outside the parliament, but he wasn't Premier until after an election...
But I digress; Kevin Rudd is apparently literally on his way as I type to the Governor-General's residence so that she may swear at him...(I think you mean 'swear him in', don't you?-Ed)...I know what I mean...in the incestuous world of Austrralian Politics, I cannot imagine that Mr Rudd is Ms Bryce's fav person...(please explain-Ed)...cheeky...(that famous phrase is from former professional Xenophobe MP Pauline Hanson).
Bill Shorten's wife (sorry I don't know her name) Mrs Shorten? (sorry) is Quentin Bryce's daughter and head of the 'Women For Gillard' group/movement...now her partner/husband has lowered the boom on Ms Gillard after years of supporting her...all very messy and unpleasant I'm sure.
But still not as messy and unpleasant as for us the electorate...these are the people who are supposedly running the country on our behalf, and yet they seem far more interested in shafting each other around issues of internal factional loyalty and personal dislikes...what about us...HEY, WHAT ABOUT US...anybody?...anything...hello...
The reality remains that even with a major disaster looming at the next election, Mr Rudd still had 45 members voting against him, and it appears that the only thing that got him over the line this time was the support of Bill Shorten...and the proof is seen in numerous ministers quitting and a number retiring...
Mr Rudd has to go to the election with a largely untested team of new faces, up against the experience of the Abbott led Liberals.
Now Parliament has risen for the last time before the election, and the whole country is sort of coasting to what seems to be a foregone conclusion.
I don't have any witty quips or pithy observations because it all seems to be over already...just listening to Steven Smith saying that he will retire at the election as well.
Tomorrow: More Rail Lands Shenanigans
All of a sudden it's raining government grants in Mt Gambier...very odd...very suspicious...(yes, we know you are-Ed)...hilarious...I am Nick Fletcher and I am odd and this is my blog.
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Agenda Benders Part II: Gender and Sexuality in Politics
Hello Canada, Japan, and Ukraine...welcome to the 180th post in this here blog, The Mount Gambier Independent...I am your host Nick Fletcher...all aboard for more fun and shenanigans.
Some quick housekeeping...caught the tail end of a story on the ABC Radio about Geo-Thermal research in the Mid-North of South Australia and the $13million 'dollar for dollar' Federal funding that this company/project has just received. Sorry didn't catch name of company or site location...
This is excellent news because the last story I heard just recently was that no such support would be forthcoming...I believe it may be that the State government, completely obsessed with Wind Turbines, has withdrawn it's support for Geo-Thermal. Scour the Interweb...there must be something there somewhere...
Also, I was wrong about City Council's Budget meeting last night Tuesday 25th June 2013...sort of. There was much debate about what services can be cut or reduced as per prepared 'schedules' to lower proposed rate increases, but the four main projects of the 'Proposed Budget' remain the same. It appears that funding will be reduced for some basic services, eg, maintenance re Reserves, which I would argue are exactly the things that Council should be improving, not reducing.
After more than 90 minutes CEO Mark McShane tried to have the Budget and associated Rate rise ratified as per the discussion about the 'Schedules', stating that it was approved by the earlier motion to accept a modified 'Schedule', but he was contradicted by Mayor Steve Perryman and several Councillors and a third meeting was called for Tuesday 2nd July.
Thirdly, heard architect Mr Tremelling on the ABC Local Radio this morning re his plan for a Botanical Gardens at the Old Hospital Site (previous post), and he sounded very genuine in his intent and passion, but it is the right idea at the wrong time in the wrong place...Mt Gambier should already have a Botanical Gardens, etc...more Tomorrow.
But today's topic...(about time-Ed)...Gender, Sexuality, and some Harsh Realities about how these issues are being manipulated in the lead up to the September 14th Election.
Reality One: There are two genders, woman and man, and any variation within the individual still remains within these parameters...straight, gay, lesbian, in the wrong body for your gender (trans-sexual?), etc, except for the possibility of those who may be neither...is there such a person?...I honestly don't know...
Reality Two: There are people who suit certain roles and roles that suit certain people, eg, men are physically advantaged for hunting, etc, which now manifests itself in professional sport. I feel this differs slightly from the position of men as soldiers, where a physical advantage does also make a difference.
Global sporting competitions are split into mens events and womens events, often having specific 'mixed' categories, eg, tennis. Even within the same gender in the same event there are differentiations, eg, weight divisions in wrestling and boxing.
Having said that, there are any number of women who are fitter, stronger, far better athletes, etc, than me, indeed could kick my ass if they felt so disposed...and I am quite a large man person...and I don't have a problem with that.
Am I 'sexist' because I open the car door first for my passenger, and then I get in...my ex-fiancee from 20+ years ago jokingly told me that she resented the fact that she had become used to these sort of 'old-school' niceties, and that it compromised her next relationships...you can't win...
And there was no better illustration of what a farcically vacuous argument this has become than the Parliamentary Winter Ball...literally all the men in suits, and almost all the women in cocktail frocks and too much slap...(slap is a colloquialism for make-up-Ed)...thankyou...yes, absolute gender stereotyping...
What ever gender one assigns to oneself, their are differences...and you can take that to the bank, although I don't know what they would do with it...
Rather than repeat myself, I refer to my previous post Disengenderous for the broader issues, and this specific post is in response to the ABC TV's Q and A Program on Monday 24th June 2013, where all of these issues were dragged out again, given a good flogging, and then un-ceremoniously jammed back in the draw...and what I found most annoying was the relentlessly hypocritical gender stereotyping in most of the criticism and commentary.
I'll briefly re-iterate; I don't care if Julia Gillard is gay or not, or if she is in some sort of non-sexual relationship solely for companionship or friendship, or whatever...I don't care...and I'm sick of being told how it affects my opinion of her and/or that it's 'disrespectful of the position of Prime Minister' to even suggest it, and/or that I'm a misogynist, etc...
The issue is one of honesty, and the potential for manipulation, etc, through threats of 'exposure', etc.
I dislike Julia Gillard because of how she conducts herself (has conducted herself)...same with Penny Wong...same with Ian Hunter...and I'm genuinely concerned about how these people are all from the same crucible, the South Austarlian Labor Party, whom have covered up the abuse of 7 year old children at St Martins Lutheran School from 2002...that is why I dislike them.
A thought:
"A single stick alone may bend or even break, but a group of sticks together is a faggot."
(What, do we laugh now?...that doesn't sound very nice...you do know that 'faggot' is a term of abuse used against gay men?-Ed)...indeed...and if I'm correct, the term (in that context) is nearly as unpleasant as the reality.
As is the term 'Bender' which I deliberately used in this context to accentuate 1) the manipulation of such issues for political expediency, and/or 2) the related political aspirations of 'hardcore gay lobbyists'...and 3) because there are radical right wing 'gay activists' whom I have no problem criticising for their actions, as much as there are those who would hate gay people and legislatively discriminate against them because they are gay, radical or not...
I would not use 'bender', 'faggot', etc as terms of abuse, but there are those who do...even gay against gay.
Unless I'm confusing 'Urban Myth' for 'Historical Fact', the term 'faggot' as identifying gay people, comes to us courtesy of the Catholic Church and the Inquisition in the Middle Ages where 'suspected' gay people were thrown onto the fires used to burn alleged witches...and hence the actual term for a bundle of sticks became synonymous with gay people and was further reduced to mean gay men...Fact or Fallacy?...I don't know...
Furthermore, the Q and A show covered the Nigella Lawson assault which was apparently very real and very nasty, and issues about intervening...to me this brought both issues to converge because I have had several incidents in my life where something has kicked off and everyone looked at me to sort it out, because I'm a fairly large man...
There was this one time at the Housing Trust where the idiot at the counter was swearing and threatening to kill his ex-partner because he had been kicked out and she got to keep the house and it was their fault, etc...the lady serving him was clearly scared and actually looked to me, and I quietly said "I think that's enough..."
This guy swung around angrily, starting at my feet as he turned, with a "What the f... has it got to do with you", and that's as far as he got, because by the time his eyeline got to about my chest he realised that that quiet voice came out of a large man..."Because you're saying it right in front of me and that lady is clearly upset, that's what it's got to do with me"
Not one more word...he just turned back, did what he had to do, very quietly and very politely, and left...my gender and my size were the issues; attributes that I would never use to threaten a woman, even if I loathed her, eg, Julia Gillard...does that make me a misogynist because I have no problem using my size against a man, especially in defense of women... indeed, I feel obliged to step in because of my size and gender.
Gender is nearly always an issue...the trick is to accept that and get the bloody hell on with it!
People are people...lairs are liars...bastards are bastards...gender is a war nobody wins...(deep-Ed)...
Tomorrow: City Council Budget and More Rail Lands
Where to from here with the announcement that the State government has 'gifted' the Rail Lands infrastructure to Mt Gambier?...and the second Budget Meeting from Tuesday 25th June 2013...the people have spoken and Council have heard...but have they listened?...
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Labor Party Privatise Everything: City Council Restores the Balance
Hello Brazil, and (sing it like Van Halen would) Panama...and of course China, India, and the United Kingdom, etc...welcome to my blog.
An incredibly facetious title based on the premise that 'Two Wrongs Don't Make A Right' that I hope makes both sides look as bad as possible because they both deserve it,...what both are doing is wrong and if anything the exact opposite to what they should be doing.
In previous posts I have covered the Privatisation of Health Services in South Australia by the Labor Party, namely by entering into a Profit Guarantee Contract (my term) with a private company for the New Royal Adelaide Hospital. This means that funds will have to be sourced from elsewhere so as to ensure that this 'profit' is maintained.
It means that we will 'rent' our own hospital whilst paying for all of it, and then in 30+ years we will 'be given' back our own hospital at a point where it will have to be replaced or completely re-furbished. This '30 year lifespan' was one of the main justifications for moving the hospital in the first place.
The sole reason that the RAH has been moved is so that Labor can hand the current site to it's mates and supporters to build luxury apartments for each other, overlooking the Botanical Gardens (previous posts)...it's the Old Brewery (Dequetteville Tce) saga all over again...and the proof is in the pudding, namely, yesterday's announcement of yet another 'Torrens River Precinct Plan' that surreptitiously allows for such Residential Development on that site and elsewhere in what is supposedly sacrosanct Parklands.
I repeat; why has Labor recently replaced all the plumbing through the East Wing at the current RAH site if they are allegedly going to pull that building down? They have used taxpayers money to get expensive infrastructure ready to hand over to their mates.
And following the sale of Lotteries SA, the Privatisation of Forestry erroneously described as a 'Rotation Sale', etc, now the State government is looking to divest itself of Public Housing by handing 5,000 properties to private organisations like AngliCare, which in itself creates many new problems, particularly for tenants.
In a political climate where Religious Organisations are allowed to officially, legally discriminate against people they don't like, eg, gay people (let alone gay couples), or trouble-makers who attack Churches over, say, their propensity for abusing children and then covering it up...(by 'trouble-makers' you mean you don't you?-Ed)...indeed I do Ed, indeed I do...what hope that these people will get 'a fair go'?...
I don't believe a word of these vague promises that tenants will be secure in tenure given that the Housing Trust (Housing SA) can remove tenants after complaints, tenancy breaches, etc, any organisation 'given' these properties can act exactly the same...and without the scrutiny and relative accountability that comes with being a government agency...
Personally I have no problem with being a tenant of the state, effectively in the debt of the state, beholden and answerable to the state, but I'll be shrecked if I'm going to be handed hollus bollus to be indebted to the Anglican Church or any other religious organisation...
But most importantly, these properties belong to the people of South Australia...and as with the South East Forestry Estate these properties are not for the 'wholesale' sale by the government (the sale of individual properties to long-term tenants being a different issue) let alone to be just given to religious organisations.
The 'Free Trade' or 'Market Mechanism' or 'De-regulation' (or whatever you want to call it) Experiment is long over and still we make the same mistakes.
The State government should be responsible for Public Health, Public Transport, Public Infrastructure (eg, roads, bridges, etc), Public Utilities (water, electricity, sewerage, etc), Courts and Correction Services, maintaining the public Forestry Estate that is critical to Industry and Manufacturing, providing balanced legislation that allows genuine businesses to flourish, etc, etc...instead we have a supposedly Socialist Labor government that has literally sold the State of South Australia out from under us to feed the vacuous beast that is Adelaide...
To cater to It's own immediate wants and needs, to prop up It's Union support, to and bribe and pork-barrel and carpetbag and oh my god I'm back doing schoolboy History of the fall of Slavery and the American Civil War...why is it not called bribery and/or fraud, but instead referred to as pork-barrelling and carpetbagging when in a 'political context'?
I digress: the State should run the state at these fundamental levels, and if someone thinks they can do better then they can give it a go, but base line service provision is the role of government.
Mount Gambier City Council has sought to address and/or redress this 'Privatisation' agenda by going into competition against local privately owned businesses in as many ways as possible...(sarcasm, right?-Ed)...correct.
They have repeatedly instigated failed cafes at the Old Town Hall and the new Library cafe (which didn't initially 'lease', and I believe is effectively run with Council support, as part of the $2million annual running cost), and spent a fortune to install a Commercial Kitchen without any public consultation (that nobody's allowed to use) at the Main Corner Project.
This, of course, was then handed free to Councillor' Des Mutton's son, and Council continues to push 'catered events' through the Main Corner...(apparently he pays a fee now-Ed)...really?...(really-Ed)...
With the Main Corner, ratepayers have payed over $10million for the construction of a pointless Function Centre (with Commercial Kitchen) with a ratepayer funded $650,000 pointless movie and a ratepayer funded $1million pointless light show, that costs ratepayers over $600,000 per annum to run, and then still have to pay to use it...and every time there's a book launch or a Council function, etc, you (we) are paying for it...over and over and over...and you don't get a choice.
City Council has spent over $10million of ratepayers money to establish a Commercial Function facility in direct conflict with privately run businesses...outrageous and unacceptable...And this follows on from the Old Town Hall re-development that cost $3.5million (?) and also includes a small kitchen.
Next it was a Farmer's Market at the Library, in direct conflict with the two privately operated markets in town. I take no pleasure in the fact that it has not succeeded as stall-holders may have hoped, but the other markets are also doing less business than usual.
Most recently Council has purchased a marquee to lend out for various functions, for free when criteria are met, which will immediately effect those whom already offer this service commercially...and what about the insurance issues if Council gives someone a marquee and it collapses on people or blows away and smashes stuff...who will pay for that? (either the insurance or the pay-out...or both)...ratepayers...
So again ratepayers money used by Council to compete with private business...and at a time when economic conditions are dire and people are foregoing 'discretionary' spending where possible, every sale, every hire, every customer is critical to small, local private business.
But the crowning glory...I understand that the recent Federal program for 'E-waste Recycling' was effectively 'hijacked' by Council to deliberately exclude local operators/tenders...I don't know why exactly...possibly so they could access the associated funding...
At their December 18th 2012 meeting, under Operational Services Report N0 34/2012 Council made the following statement;
Part b) Council enter into further negotiations with Infoactiv regarding Council's Waste
Transfer Centre becoming a collection site for the National TV and Computer
Recycling Scheme, to the exclusion of other companies.
To the exclusion of other companies...disgraceful...and at their February 2013 meeting Council ratified this, voting to use the Waste Transfer Centre for this E-waste Program...
Council continues to fail on providing basic services, eg no funding for public transport provision and/or infrastructure...Having argued that it wasn't Council's place to provide a Bus Terminal, Council then spent $250,000 on a useless shelter in a carpark despite the well established public desire for a centralised, covered facility.
Mount Gambier City Council seems to have completely lost track of what it should be doing, and is instead obsessed with the Rail Lands Retail Agenda (previous posts), going into business where it has none, and ludicrous elitist projects.
I confidently predict that tonight Tuesday 25th June 2013, they will pass their current Budget with all it's borrowing, debt, and massive rate rises, to pay for things that the City simply cannot afford to do...may I be wrong for the sake of the City...at best the Rail Lands initiative will get shelved 'by popular demand' previous posts).
Tomorrow: Agenda Benders II - Sexuality and Gender in Australian Politics
The 'debate' continues to rage throughout...and I for one, am sick of it...I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...laters...
An incredibly facetious title based on the premise that 'Two Wrongs Don't Make A Right' that I hope makes both sides look as bad as possible because they both deserve it,...what both are doing is wrong and if anything the exact opposite to what they should be doing.
In previous posts I have covered the Privatisation of Health Services in South Australia by the Labor Party, namely by entering into a Profit Guarantee Contract (my term) with a private company for the New Royal Adelaide Hospital. This means that funds will have to be sourced from elsewhere so as to ensure that this 'profit' is maintained.
It means that we will 'rent' our own hospital whilst paying for all of it, and then in 30+ years we will 'be given' back our own hospital at a point where it will have to be replaced or completely re-furbished. This '30 year lifespan' was one of the main justifications for moving the hospital in the first place.
The sole reason that the RAH has been moved is so that Labor can hand the current site to it's mates and supporters to build luxury apartments for each other, overlooking the Botanical Gardens (previous posts)...it's the Old Brewery (Dequetteville Tce) saga all over again...and the proof is in the pudding, namely, yesterday's announcement of yet another 'Torrens River Precinct Plan' that surreptitiously allows for such Residential Development on that site and elsewhere in what is supposedly sacrosanct Parklands.
I repeat; why has Labor recently replaced all the plumbing through the East Wing at the current RAH site if they are allegedly going to pull that building down? They have used taxpayers money to get expensive infrastructure ready to hand over to their mates.
And following the sale of Lotteries SA, the Privatisation of Forestry erroneously described as a 'Rotation Sale', etc, now the State government is looking to divest itself of Public Housing by handing 5,000 properties to private organisations like AngliCare, which in itself creates many new problems, particularly for tenants.
In a political climate where Religious Organisations are allowed to officially, legally discriminate against people they don't like, eg, gay people (let alone gay couples), or trouble-makers who attack Churches over, say, their propensity for abusing children and then covering it up...(by 'trouble-makers' you mean you don't you?-Ed)...indeed I do Ed, indeed I do...what hope that these people will get 'a fair go'?...
I don't believe a word of these vague promises that tenants will be secure in tenure given that the Housing Trust (Housing SA) can remove tenants after complaints, tenancy breaches, etc, any organisation 'given' these properties can act exactly the same...and without the scrutiny and relative accountability that comes with being a government agency...
Personally I have no problem with being a tenant of the state, effectively in the debt of the state, beholden and answerable to the state, but I'll be shrecked if I'm going to be handed hollus bollus to be indebted to the Anglican Church or any other religious organisation...
But most importantly, these properties belong to the people of South Australia...and as with the South East Forestry Estate these properties are not for the 'wholesale' sale by the government (the sale of individual properties to long-term tenants being a different issue) let alone to be just given to religious organisations.
The 'Free Trade' or 'Market Mechanism' or 'De-regulation' (or whatever you want to call it) Experiment is long over and still we make the same mistakes.
The State government should be responsible for Public Health, Public Transport, Public Infrastructure (eg, roads, bridges, etc), Public Utilities (water, electricity, sewerage, etc), Courts and Correction Services, maintaining the public Forestry Estate that is critical to Industry and Manufacturing, providing balanced legislation that allows genuine businesses to flourish, etc, etc...instead we have a supposedly Socialist Labor government that has literally sold the State of South Australia out from under us to feed the vacuous beast that is Adelaide...
To cater to It's own immediate wants and needs, to prop up It's Union support, to and bribe and pork-barrel and carpetbag and oh my god I'm back doing schoolboy History of the fall of Slavery and the American Civil War...why is it not called bribery and/or fraud, but instead referred to as pork-barrelling and carpetbagging when in a 'political context'?
I digress: the State should run the state at these fundamental levels, and if someone thinks they can do better then they can give it a go, but base line service provision is the role of government.
Mount Gambier City Council has sought to address and/or redress this 'Privatisation' agenda by going into competition against local privately owned businesses in as many ways as possible...(sarcasm, right?-Ed)...correct.
They have repeatedly instigated failed cafes at the Old Town Hall and the new Library cafe (which didn't initially 'lease', and I believe is effectively run with Council support, as part of the $2million annual running cost), and spent a fortune to install a Commercial Kitchen without any public consultation (that nobody's allowed to use) at the Main Corner Project.
This, of course, was then handed free to Councillor' Des Mutton's son, and Council continues to push 'catered events' through the Main Corner...(apparently he pays a fee now-Ed)...really?...(really-Ed)...
With the Main Corner, ratepayers have payed over $10million for the construction of a pointless Function Centre (with Commercial Kitchen) with a ratepayer funded $650,000 pointless movie and a ratepayer funded $1million pointless light show, that costs ratepayers over $600,000 per annum to run, and then still have to pay to use it...and every time there's a book launch or a Council function, etc, you (we) are paying for it...over and over and over...and you don't get a choice.
City Council has spent over $10million of ratepayers money to establish a Commercial Function facility in direct conflict with privately run businesses...outrageous and unacceptable...And this follows on from the Old Town Hall re-development that cost $3.5million (?) and also includes a small kitchen.
Next it was a Farmer's Market at the Library, in direct conflict with the two privately operated markets in town. I take no pleasure in the fact that it has not succeeded as stall-holders may have hoped, but the other markets are also doing less business than usual.
Most recently Council has purchased a marquee to lend out for various functions, for free when criteria are met, which will immediately effect those whom already offer this service commercially...and what about the insurance issues if Council gives someone a marquee and it collapses on people or blows away and smashes stuff...who will pay for that? (either the insurance or the pay-out...or both)...ratepayers...
So again ratepayers money used by Council to compete with private business...and at a time when economic conditions are dire and people are foregoing 'discretionary' spending where possible, every sale, every hire, every customer is critical to small, local private business.
But the crowning glory...I understand that the recent Federal program for 'E-waste Recycling' was effectively 'hijacked' by Council to deliberately exclude local operators/tenders...I don't know why exactly...possibly so they could access the associated funding...
At their December 18th 2012 meeting, under Operational Services Report N0 34/2012 Council made the following statement;
Part b) Council enter into further negotiations with Infoactiv regarding Council's Waste
Transfer Centre becoming a collection site for the National TV and Computer
Recycling Scheme, to the exclusion of other companies.
To the exclusion of other companies...disgraceful...and at their February 2013 meeting Council ratified this, voting to use the Waste Transfer Centre for this E-waste Program...
Council continues to fail on providing basic services, eg no funding for public transport provision and/or infrastructure...Having argued that it wasn't Council's place to provide a Bus Terminal, Council then spent $250,000 on a useless shelter in a carpark despite the well established public desire for a centralised, covered facility.
Mount Gambier City Council seems to have completely lost track of what it should be doing, and is instead obsessed with the Rail Lands Retail Agenda (previous posts), going into business where it has none, and ludicrous elitist projects.
I confidently predict that tonight Tuesday 25th June 2013, they will pass their current Budget with all it's borrowing, debt, and massive rate rises, to pay for things that the City simply cannot afford to do...may I be wrong for the sake of the City...at best the Rail Lands initiative will get shelved 'by popular demand' previous posts).
Tomorrow: Agenda Benders II - Sexuality and Gender in Australian Politics
The 'debate' continues to rage throughout...and I for one, am sick of it...I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...laters...
Monday, June 24, 2013
Agenda Benders - Mt Gambier Council's Rail Lands Retail Obsession
Hello Denmark, Spain, the Netherlands, and Latvia....and everyone else...I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...my hobbies include whinging, whining, moaning, and groaning...oh, and 'sticking it to the Man'...(hehehe, that sounds a little rude...sticking exactly what to the Man?...and who is this Man of which you speak?-Ed)...not whom, what...the Man, man...the System, dude...sticking it to the System...(oh-Ed)...and apologies for repeatedly writing 'Spetember' in previous post when it was actually 'October'...
I'm gonna' have to get a bigger fishbowl (previous posts) because I know that I've been all over this issue several times before but it just keeps on getting bigger and bigger...and they started it...(oh very mature-Ed)...no, seriously, last weeks efforts in The Border Watch show that the Mount Gambier City Council have not given up on their Rail Lands Retail Agenda as I have covered/explained in previous posts.
City Council is fully amped, ready to go on a ratepayer funded Rail Lands Retail Agenda Bender...(oo, oo, I've got one....what do drunken sailors say when they are concerned about someones fiscal outlay?...he spends like a Mt Gambier City Council...ow, bazinga-Ed)...mmm, clumsy but true...so true...
Starting right from the moment that Mt Gambier first 'received' the Rail Lands from the state government in early 2005, this RLRA has involved multiple rounds of alleged public consultation and architect designed plans and grand announcements about a $10million Parkland Concept launched in November 2011, and deceit after deceit about the Contamination and the Deed and the Easement and the blah, blah, blah...it's all lies...and the people behind the RLRA, namely Greg Muller, Tony Pasin, Steve Perryman, etc, clearly don't care who gets hurt in the process...
These specific individuals along with some members of the Chamber of Commerce and some property owners immediately adjacent the Old Hospital and various other vested interests, have been relentlessly pursuing their own wants and needs with abject disregard for everyone else...
The latest piece of mega-lunacy...(ah, a Supermoon reference , clever-Ed)...no, just abuse...unless of course you're referring to the astronomical costs involved...(nice-Ed)...and why not start with a front page in TBW Tuesday 18th June and the 'headline' World-class vision - Architect uges City Council to consider bold old hospital plan...and then the entire page 2 with headline Bold hospital site vision - Architect urges City Council to reconsider 'safe' plan...along with pictures of a vast glasshouse and plaza thingy.
What a crock...a massive crock...a cynical piece of gross manipulation to try and make Council's current 'plan' for that site look more reasonable, and divert attention and funds away from the Old Rail Lands site...again...
"Arguing council's current plan was "mild, cost-effective and dull" he said a long-term
vision over 10 years should be explored and something the community could get excited
about should be developed."
Farcical...does Mr Tremelling have any idea of the Council's disastrous, self-focused conduct with building an unnecessary Library at over twice what it was originally costed, a completely pointless, massive, ugly 'Front Door' for the Riddoch Gallery known as The Main Corner, both crammed into the Cave Gardens, and the extraordinary saga of the Lady Nelson Bus Shelter, all three of which have been placed to keep the Old Rail Lands clear for a massive expansion of the Lakes Plaza/Centro Shopping Centre?
I note that on Friday morning 21/06/13 City Council's 'Architect' Michael Silvey (?-I think-sorry) was on the local ABC Radio stating that the Lady Nelson Bus Shelter was completed the day before and that bus patrons had started using it on that Thursday afternoon, but I went past within 5 minutes and there was a little old lady with her suitcase standing outside the shelter which was still 'fenced off' with witches hats and bunting.
And then there's the ongoing lack of an indoor pool, the loss of the Tennis International Tournament because Council didn't maintain the courts, lack of public transport services and infrastructure, needlessly re-paving the Main Street, etc...
Council cannot be trusted with basic services, let alone another multi-million dollar project, and this whole 'Greenhouse Concept' is a pie-in-the-sky distraction from the Parklands that should already be established at the Old Rail Lands.
Council is specifically trying to get people to argue against non-commercial development of the Rail Lands, and bingo, in TBW Friday 21/06/13, yet another long article about and interview with Mr Tremelling where he trots out a series of pointless developments, completely uncosted, with vague unexplained promises that it will somehow pay for itself.
Along with this article 21/06/13 is a long erroneous letter about how great Council is, and multiple letters stating how "fantastic" this Greenhouse idea is...poppycock and balderdash...
And a perfect segue into the Council's alleged Budget Consultation Process (previous posts) that outlines more and more borrowing, pointless projects, no indoor pool, no public transport funding, rates through the roof, etc...if you're a ratepayer you are for it to help fund Councillors ludicrous elitism and selfishness...
And most critically, the announcement that the State government intends to give 5,000 Public Housing properties to 'Care Associations' like Anglicare. This is absolutely outrageous and gets its own post, but the fall-out for ratepayers is immediately obvious as per TBW Thursday 20th June 2013 front page article Housing transfer to cut revenue.
When these houses are transferred they will qualify for a 75% rate rebate/reduction which will cost Mt Gambier approx $700,000 per annum in lost revenue.
In a sane world, dealing with rational people, this would be the death-knell for City Council's proposed increased borrowing and expenditure that will currently raise rates by a total near 40% over the next five years...when these 'transfers' go through Council will be forced to drastically increase rates yet again to cover the loss.
Mount Gambier City Council must 'shelve' its current Budget proposals, rate increases, etc, (previous posts) and buckle down for a very rough ride...better that these things sit idle for a few more years than Council literally kills off the town...and it's dying already in case no-one noticed...businesses closing and people leaving, property not selling, unemployment spiralling upward, etc...Mt Gambier simply cannot take too much more...
I am not being alarmist or sensationalist or addicted to hyperbole...just look around you, read my previous posts about the public response to the Budget Consultation...and Council's plans are yet more vague, costly projects, including more Council run cafes...(oh dear god-Ed)...etc, and it all has to stop.
Stop the madness for the sake of the City itself...and as if it weren't hard enough, Council continues to go into direct competition against private businesses, and hence...
Tomorrow: City Council In Business Against Private Owners
A long list of the businesses that Council operates in direct competition with privately run operations.
I have not added the articles referred to in this post because it would be way too long, but please read them if you have access...cheers...I am he as mentioned previously and this is my blog...laters...
Sunday, June 23, 2013
My Speeding Fine 09 October 2007 and Magistrate Bill Morris
I just remembered this 'series of incidents' after writing the recent post about Court Services being cut back in Regional areas, and it is such a perfect example of several things I regularly cover in this blog...(even if you say so yourself-Ed)...indeed, but the reality is the reality regardless of my opinion...and I've also lost track of my own blog so I'm going to have to spend some time 'reviewing' and 'cataloguing'...probaly should have done it from the start...
On October 9th 2007 I was 'caught' allegedly doing 60kph in a 50kph zone, and subsequently appealed, and refused to appear in front of notorious pro-paedophile Magistrate Bill Morris, whom was the initial investigator for the Mullighan Inquiry before being hounded off that by Child Protection Activists, and was shortly after made a Magistrate...un-shrekin-believable...and then was moved to Mt Gambier...
My appeal was based on the grounds that 1) I was on a short 'un-signed' section of road between an 80kph zone and a 60kph zone that was apparently 50kph, and, 2) I had seen the radar as I passed it and instinctively slowed, and was doing well under 60kph, probaly under 55kph when 'caught'.
This was later used to convict me, in my absence, because I had 'confessed to doing more than 50kph'...and please note that this specific "60kph" was later changed to "...a speed of about 60kph."...what does "about 60kph" mean?...
This matter was bounced backward and forward between Mt Gambier and Adelaide because of my refusal to appear before Bill Morris, but it ended up back with him anyway, and he convicted me in my absence.
Please find attached the original Expiation Notice stating "60kph", the Complaint and Summons showing the "about 60kph", and my letters 23/01/2009 and 21/07/2010, only two of many (10+)...I believe that they are self-explanatory...slightly redacted because I was driving mum's car at the time...boy, did that make me popular...and please ignore multiple references to "copy attached"...
Note: I could not get a fair hearing because 1) Bill Morris is a Magistrate, and 2) I couldn't get to Adelaide.
I have written to Chief Magistrate Margaret Bolton four times but never received any sort of response at all...which is odd because I showed these letters to a lawyer several years ago, and they went ghostly white, 'Oh, Nick, you can't say that about a Magistrate, it's contempt of Court.'...but I don't know that factual statements to the Authority involved are 'contempt'...they are clearly appropriate criticism, and it is every citizens responsibility to act to improve society, even the Judiciary...
Tomorrow: Agenda Benders - Mt Gambier City Council's Rail Lands Retail Obsession
I promise, honest...Laters.
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On October 9th 2007 I was 'caught' allegedly doing 60kph in a 50kph zone, and subsequently appealed, and refused to appear in front of notorious pro-paedophile Magistrate Bill Morris, whom was the initial investigator for the Mullighan Inquiry before being hounded off that by Child Protection Activists, and was shortly after made a Magistrate...un-shrekin-believable...and then was moved to Mt Gambier...
My appeal was based on the grounds that 1) I was on a short 'un-signed' section of road between an 80kph zone and a 60kph zone that was apparently 50kph, and, 2) I had seen the radar as I passed it and instinctively slowed, and was doing well under 60kph, probaly under 55kph when 'caught'.
This was later used to convict me, in my absence, because I had 'confessed to doing more than 50kph'...and please note that this specific "60kph" was later changed to "...a speed of about 60kph."...what does "about 60kph" mean?...
This matter was bounced backward and forward between Mt Gambier and Adelaide because of my refusal to appear before Bill Morris, but it ended up back with him anyway, and he convicted me in my absence.
Please find attached the original Expiation Notice stating "60kph", the Complaint and Summons showing the "about 60kph", and my letters 23/01/2009 and 21/07/2010, only two of many (10+)...I believe that they are self-explanatory...slightly redacted because I was driving mum's car at the time...boy, did that make me popular...and please ignore multiple references to "copy attached"...
Note: I could not get a fair hearing because 1) Bill Morris is a Magistrate, and 2) I couldn't get to Adelaide.
I have written to Chief Magistrate Margaret Bolton four times but never received any sort of response at all...which is odd because I showed these letters to a lawyer several years ago, and they went ghostly white, 'Oh, Nick, you can't say that about a Magistrate, it's contempt of Court.'...but I don't know that factual statements to the Authority involved are 'contempt'...they are clearly appropriate criticism, and it is every citizens responsibility to act to improve society, even the Judiciary...
Tomorrow: Agenda Benders - Mt Gambier City Council's Rail Lands Retail Obsession
I promise, honest...Laters.
Saturday, June 22, 2013
Wind Turbine Subsidy Explanation
You are here: Home / Big wind industry / The RET & the REC: the anatomy of a National fraud
The RET & the REC: the anatomy of a National fraud
May 4, 2013 By stopthesethings
A little while ago one of our readers posted a comment including what would appear to be a fairly simple question, The Callous Wind wrote:
I have a request for STT. Would you be able to please explain to us mere mortals, how the REC’s do actually work? There seems to be a lot of false information being put out there on both sides of the argument. Are the REC’s only paid on power produced, or are they paid on the rated capacity of the particular wind turbine project? Do the wind turbine companies receive any other incentives from the Government, besides the REC’s. I believe the REC’s are around $38 per megawatt hour and are likely to go to $90 per megawatt hour, is this correct?
The answer, however, isn’t quite so simple. This scam (oops, we mean “scheme”) was designed to mislead and confuse “mere mortals” with the help of an industry so cunning that you could stick a tail on it and call it a weasel.
Let’s start at the very beginning which, as Sister Maria, told us was always a very good place to start.
The Renewable Energy Target (RET) is the product of Commonwealth legislation being the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Act 2000, the Renewable Energy (Electricity) (Large-Scale Generation Shortfall Charge) Act 2000, the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Regulations 2001 and the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Amendment Act 2010. Those looking for a little extra bedtime reading can find the key legislation here, here, here and here.
The RET requires retailers of electricity to source 20% of all electricity sold from “renewable” sources by 2020. How we got to that target and who was and is responsible for it appears in this detailed article by Ray Evans and Tom Quirk. Back in 2009 Tom and Ray predicted with chilling accuracy the escalation of power prices due to increasing wind power generation here.
Ray and Tom concluded that because of the much increased capital cost of wind power installing an extra 26,000 MW of wind power capacity to reach the 2020 target will cost $52 billion. Adding to that cost will be the need to have backup generation capacity of at least 23,400 MW – from baseload sources such as coal or gas – to ensure continuity of supply. And to absorb the intermittent and unpredictable wind power generated by wind turbines dispersed over Tasmania, South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland – all feeding into the South-Eastern grid – there will need to be at least $30 billion invested in a duplicated transmission network.
What they mean by duplicating the transmission network includes $107 million for an interconnector for no other purpose than to send South Australian generated wind power to Victoria at night-time – as reported by The Age.
All of those additional costs will, of course, be borne by the electricity consumer or “sucker”, as the electricity industry lovingly refers to us. And anyway, $80 billion to set up a feel-good green boondoggle doesn’t sound like much if you say it fast enough. But that’s just the cost of the additional and otherwise unnecessary infrastructure needed to support the wind farm scam; we haven’t even got to the subsidy trough yet. And put aside the fact wind farms simply can’t reduce greenhouse gases because they have to be continually backed up by fossil fuel generators.
The RET mandates that retailers MUST take wind power in preference to other sources, irrespective of the cost; although the retailer could, instead, choose to cop a “fine”. If the retailer fails to acquire 20% of the electricity that it sells from renewable sources it gets whacked with a fine of $65 for every MW/h that it falls short of the target - here and here.
Any fines paid by retailers will, no doubt, be added to the wholesale cost paid by the retailer and passed on to power consumers.
The fine is tipped by insiders to be increased from July 2014 to $75 for every MW/h that the retailer falls short of the target.
With a captive market, the wind power generator can, therefore, dictate the wholesale renewable power price, which it does through long-term power supply agreements with retailers called Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs).
Over the last few years wind power generators have been signing PPAs with retailers at wholesale prices between $90 to $110 per MWh, with the agreement running for up to 15 years.
That cost compares with gas or coal thermal power which wholesales from between $25 to $40 per MWh. So retailers are paying up to 4 times the price for wind power which turns up on your power bill. Yippee! Don’t ya just love green tokenism? But, wait, there’s more.
Adding to the price paid by retailers is the cost of “peaking power” needed to urgently backfill the grid when the wind stops blowing and demand outstrips available supply: think 40 degree summer’s days when there is no wind blowing anywhere and air-conditioners are running full throttle.
Windfarm operators like AGL supply “peaking power” using gas turbines at Macarthur and Hallett, which are more or less 747 jet engines strapped to tiny generators that cost more than $300 per MWh to run. Because the grid would otherwise collapse, peaking power generators have gotten away with charging $2,000 per MWh and up to $10,000 per MWh to cover peak load demands, which occur when the wind stops blowing. And yes, you guessed it, these costs are all passed on to you, the electricity sucker. Some might call it “chiseling”, STT calls it State sponsored theft.
Under the RET legislation a Large-scale Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) is issued by the Federal Government’s Clean Energy Regulator to a wind power generator for each MWh of electricity supplied to the grid. The REC is a little like a coupon which can be cashed in at any time. If there are lots of coupons their price falls; the price rises if there are fewer of them.
The wind power generator sweetens the PPA deal with its retail customer by handing over a REC for every MWh it supplies. Of course you wouldn’t expect our ol’ mates at Infigen to give you something for nothing. The projected value of the REC is built into the price set by the PPA; and the retailer gets to sell the REC. There is also a very opaque futures market for RECs, but that is another story for another day.
Since the RET started, the trading price of RECs (yes, there is a market for them) has bounced around reaching $60 prior to the amendment of the RET legislation in 2010 (which created a separate market for residential solar RECs and Large Scale RECs) and is currently around $38 per REC.
In The Age article linked above you might have wondered how wind power generators can afford to sell to the grid at negative wholesale prices? Well, the generator still collects a REC and will also claim a supply on its PPA with its retailer and collect $90-110 per MWh supplied to the grid. You didn’t really think they were giving away power for free, did you?
Take Macarthur, where AGL has 140, 3MW Vestas V112 turbines driving the locals nuts. When the wind is blowing and each turbine is operating at its full capacity of 3MW per hour, AGL collects 3 RECs for each turbine: 1 REC per MWh.
If the wind blew around the clock, AGL would collect 26,280 RECs each year from each turbine: 3 RECS per hour x 24 hours x 365 days.
Assuming, generously, that its turbine operates at its full rated 3 MW capacity around 40% of the time, it will collect 10,500 RECs from that turbine annually.
At current values, 10,500 RECs will “earn” AGL $399,000. AGL will also sell the electricity to a retailer under a PPA for something like $90 MWh and collect another $945,000. And AGL, being the kind-hearted behemoth that it is, recovers every last cent of it from its retail customers. Oh, almost forgot, and the retailers recover it all, plus a fat margin, from the consumer.
A little earlier we mentioned the fine paid by retailers who fail to reach the 20% RET of $65 for every MW/h that the retailer falls short of the target.
The fine is a cost that the retailer can’t claim as a legitimate tax deduction, whereas the REC is – this places an added value on the REC to the extent that its face value can reduce the retailer’s taxable income. That fact, and the pressure that will mount on retailers to reach the 20% target with an undersupply of RECs predicted, means that the REC price is forecast to reach $90 around 2015.
At $90, 10,500 RECs collected from a 3MW turbine running 40% of the time will be worth around $945,000 annually.
Since the implementation of the RET began in April 2001, over 195 million RECs have been created – worth more than $8 billion.
From now until 2031 (when the RET expires) the RECs that will need to be issued to meet the RET, at the price forecast, will be worth an estimated $54 billion; ALL to be added to your power bills.
Labor MP, Joel Fitzgibbon was onto it last October. Pity his Labor mates didn’t have his interest in the plight of small business and families struggling with escalating power bills.
The factors outlined above: the mandatory RET – the penalty of $65 per MWh for failing to satisfy the target, tipped to rise to $75 per MWh in 2014; the price of the Large-scale REC, rising to $90; the need for investment in further backup fossil fuel generation – base-load, intermediate and peaking power sources; and the cost of duplicating the transmission network just to take intermittent wind power all means that retail prices have only one way to go, and that’s North.
In 2011 residential power prices were around 20.4 cents per KWh, by 2017 households and can expect to pay in the order of 36.3 cents per KWh: an increase of 78%. While industry can usually strike better electricity deals with retailers it will not escape a punishing increase in one of the unavoidable costs of doing business. Heaven help any business that uses bucket loads of electricity to make something.
Thanks to its great wind rush, in South Australia wind power now makes up around 35% of its total generating capacity. With such ridiculous reliance on wind power, and more to come, it’s no surprise that South Australians will soon be paying the highest retail power prices in the World, if they aren’t already – as reported by The Advertiser.
As Alby Schultz said: “The only reason people are not rioting in the streets about the unjustified increase in their power bills is that they simply have no idea what is going on.”
Well, now you know.
With the hint that the Coalition is going to review the “Great RET Scam” and scrap the REC altogether, retailers are becoming a little gun shy and simply aren’t signing up to PPAs like they used to. Any retailer with a half a brain won’t want to be caught with a bunch of worthless RECs. That rats might be ready to jump from a leaky ship got the greentard bloggers up in arms last Christmas.
The Coalition made this mess and only the Coalition can fix it; they need to hear it loud and clear from a less than happy mob.
So grab your blazing torches and sharpened pitchforks and we’ll see you on June 18, 2013 at Parliament House, Canberra. Loyal readers, don’t just bring yourself, bring 2 friends – they pay power bills too and have just as much at stake as the good folk in the trenches fighting the good fight against the tyranny of big wind. We’ve got one shot at the title, let’s make the most of it.
Friday, June 21, 2013
More Regional Services Cut - Secede To Succeed
Still 'post-lagged' from other day, so this late short post... Hello Taiwan and South Africa...and apparently I'm also big in Venezuela this week...(do you think that these are perhaps accidental 'hits' not actual 'views'-Ed)...certainly possible, but there are daily 'hits' in, for example, France, the UK, the USofA, Ukraine, Indonesia, Colombia, etc, so I'm confident that my blog is being 'followed' in some places...
And I am genuinely surprised and greatly appreciative of the local support that I am receiving, albeit 'off blog'...the standard response is 'I just don't believe it', but in a context where people accept that what I am saying is 'truthful'...the fact that any of this stuff has happened at all (and continues to happen) is what they find "unbelievable"....
And I also take the point that, despite my clear attempts to improve and 'respectify' my language, it could still use some more 'moderation'...however, I do feel that as the fury and guilt somewhat subside, partially assuaged by positively engaging with the debate, of responsible influence ...(wahhh?-Ed)...the general tone of my posts naturally improves as I feel less guilty because what I'm doing has a positive effect...(oh, well just say that then-Ed)...sure...
And, if I'm talking about my behaviour and language, I can't not apologise yet again to my child for my swearing that continues (albeit with increasing infrequency) to slide into our 'discussions' about various issues...again, it is the emotion that I struggle with...but I'm working on it...always in all ways...
As per previous posts, Health Minister Jack Snelling is "reviewing" the Patient Assistance Transport Scheme (PATS) but has immediately ruled out more money, describing instead a "re-distribution" of current funding (for 'partial refunds') for Regional residents who have to travel over 100km
I re-iterate for the record...the PATS 'partial refund' remains at a level set 12 years ago...there has been no improvement at all under 11 years of the supposedly Socialist Labor government...(that'll teach you to vote Liberal, won't it Regional South Australia?-Ed)...that's $140 refund per trip, but Regional patients are also still charged a 'processing fee' of $30 per claim, an extra impost that Adelaide residents don't pay, meaning a 'flat rate refund' of $110...no depreciation of vehicle, no time allowance, etc...not nothing...
And if you fly, taxi fares are not covered, and hopefully you can get subsidised accommodation at places like Greenhill Lodge...but that is not always the case...etc, etc...
Even in today's The Border Watch Friday 21st June 2013, the attached article highlights the state government's position..."...fair reimbursement...within existing resources."...this is code for means testing
Just this morning on ABC Local Radio, the Family First Party's Robert Brokenshire expressed his concerns about the lack of funding, and that a lack of services leads to people missing out on treatment or not even bothering to try because it's so hard to even access services.
This on the back of a report citing this exact problem in the Riverland region where patients aren't even seeking treatment because they know that it means going to Adelaide...they just give up...I'm still waiting for re-appointments for ones I couldn't get to in Adelaide back in late 2012...and I know that many other people have similar problems, eg, get to Adelaide and the specialist has had to cancel, etc...
Also in TBW Wednesday 19th June 2013 the announcement that TAFE services and therefore associated TAFE jobs are also to be reviewed and likely some cut-back and possibly removed...and therefore the future prospects of local people, young and old, and a paucity of qualified professionals that threatens the viability of local manufacturing and increases domestic demand and therefore price...that's how it goes...
For example, if there are very few electricians training locally and hopefully therefore available locally (given Fly In, Fly Out, etc) then not only is it difficult to get their services, it is likely to cost more...more demand, higher price...not least of all because the electrician has to work longer hours to satisfy the demand...
I'm not terribly convinced by promises from TAFE SA CEO Jeff Cunningham that everything's fine for Mt Gambier, etc, because most of these jobs that definitely are going, 'will be in Adelaide'...so everything's just fine...(phweuuu, that's a relief-Ed)...I was working the sarcasm pretty hard on that one...(oh-Ed)...yes I am very much afraid...there will definitely be job losses and that must affect service delivery, course availability, etc...any losses at this time further hurt struggling communities like Mt Gambier and Millicent.
And also the severe cut backs on Court services to the Regions as part of a "review" that a sickeningly smirking Premier Jay Weatherill stated on the evening news "they've had coming for some time"...no Supreme Court at all and District Court reduced by 1/4 - 1/3...so Regional South Australia can look forward to travelling to Adelaide to try and access what passes for justice in this state...
And the Sturt St Courts in Adelaide are also going to be closed, and less Courts means longer waiting for a case to even start, etc.
And how does that affect the Weatherill government's alleged commitment to improving access to the Courts for people with disability issues?...(a rhetorical question?...which is in and of itself a rhetorical question-Ed)...yes, and very amusing too...yes it is going to be hard to improve services when you're pulling funding and closing actual courts...
I refer to my previous post re the Friday 14th June 2013 launch of the Attorney General's Dept Improving Court Access for the Disability Sector Discussion Paper Roundtable Thinktank Forum Consultation ...(you right there champ-Ed)...yeah, if I stop coming up with new names for it I'm gonna swear...I swear...
As stated in previous post, the entire process is an absolute farce designed to give the impression that Weatherill and Labor give a stuff about the Disability and Mental Health Sectors, and the Labor government some sort of credibility on same as we head toward the March 2014 state Election...'ooo, look at all the talking we've done'...
It is unmitigated bastardry of the highest order to offer vulnerable people some potential hope, and then within a week reef it away again with massive funding costs...it's going to be hard enough for us normal people to access the Courts, let alone those poor people with disabilities...(um...you're on the Disability Support Pension for Agoraphobia, Depression, etc, re all the St Martins stuff...remember?...the previous posts?-Ed)...oh yeah...
Apologies for my crass attempt at humour on such a serious issue, but appreciate that my anger is very, very genuine...and that smug smirk on Weatherill's face...what a bastard...
And I note that Simon Stretton, formerly of the Crown Solicitors Office and one of several therein whom threatened me re 'shut up about the St Martins Child Abuse Cover-up and stop calling us corrupt, or we'll gaol you' (paraphrase and also several previous posts) is now a magistrate...charming...
UGHhhhhh, enough for one day...
Tomorrow: More Rail Lands Retail Agenda from The Border Watch
Now it's a shrekin' great Terrarium, Arboreum, Greenhouse freakout monster glass construction for the Old Hospital site...absolutely insane and all about keeping the Rail Lands clear for Retail Development, at any cost, at great cost to the majority, to benefit those few whom dwell beneath contempt....shrek I'm tried...sorry if this has turned to dribble....tomorrow is a day and this is a blog...my blog...and I'm Nick Fletcher...laters...
And I am genuinely surprised and greatly appreciative of the local support that I am receiving, albeit 'off blog'...the standard response is 'I just don't believe it', but in a context where people accept that what I am saying is 'truthful'...the fact that any of this stuff has happened at all (and continues to happen) is what they find "unbelievable"....
And I also take the point that, despite my clear attempts to improve and 'respectify' my language, it could still use some more 'moderation'...however, I do feel that as the fury and guilt somewhat subside, partially assuaged by positively engaging with the debate, of responsible influence ...(wahhh?-Ed)...the general tone of my posts naturally improves as I feel less guilty because what I'm doing has a positive effect...(oh, well just say that then-Ed)...sure...
And, if I'm talking about my behaviour and language, I can't not apologise yet again to my child for my swearing that continues (albeit with increasing infrequency) to slide into our 'discussions' about various issues...again, it is the emotion that I struggle with...but I'm working on it...always in all ways...
As per previous posts, Health Minister Jack Snelling is "reviewing" the Patient Assistance Transport Scheme (PATS) but has immediately ruled out more money, describing instead a "re-distribution" of current funding (for 'partial refunds') for Regional residents who have to travel over 100km
I re-iterate for the record...the PATS 'partial refund' remains at a level set 12 years ago...there has been no improvement at all under 11 years of the supposedly Socialist Labor government...(that'll teach you to vote Liberal, won't it Regional South Australia?-Ed)...that's $140 refund per trip, but Regional patients are also still charged a 'processing fee' of $30 per claim, an extra impost that Adelaide residents don't pay, meaning a 'flat rate refund' of $110...no depreciation of vehicle, no time allowance, etc...not nothing...
And if you fly, taxi fares are not covered, and hopefully you can get subsidised accommodation at places like Greenhill Lodge...but that is not always the case...etc, etc...
Even in today's The Border Watch Friday 21st June 2013, the attached article highlights the state government's position..."...fair reimbursement...within existing resources."...this is code for means testing
Just this morning on ABC Local Radio, the Family First Party's Robert Brokenshire expressed his concerns about the lack of funding, and that a lack of services leads to people missing out on treatment or not even bothering to try because it's so hard to even access services.
This on the back of a report citing this exact problem in the Riverland region where patients aren't even seeking treatment because they know that it means going to Adelaide...they just give up...I'm still waiting for re-appointments for ones I couldn't get to in Adelaide back in late 2012...and I know that many other people have similar problems, eg, get to Adelaide and the specialist has had to cancel, etc...
Also in TBW Wednesday 19th June 2013 the announcement that TAFE services and therefore associated TAFE jobs are also to be reviewed and likely some cut-back and possibly removed...and therefore the future prospects of local people, young and old, and a paucity of qualified professionals that threatens the viability of local manufacturing and increases domestic demand and therefore price...that's how it goes...
For example, if there are very few electricians training locally and hopefully therefore available locally (given Fly In, Fly Out, etc) then not only is it difficult to get their services, it is likely to cost more...more demand, higher price...not least of all because the electrician has to work longer hours to satisfy the demand...
I'm not terribly convinced by promises from TAFE SA CEO Jeff Cunningham that everything's fine for Mt Gambier, etc, because most of these jobs that definitely are going, 'will be in Adelaide'...so everything's just fine...(phweuuu, that's a relief-Ed)...I was working the sarcasm pretty hard on that one...(oh-Ed)...yes I am very much afraid...there will definitely be job losses and that must affect service delivery, course availability, etc...any losses at this time further hurt struggling communities like Mt Gambier and Millicent.
And also the severe cut backs on Court services to the Regions as part of a "review" that a sickeningly smirking Premier Jay Weatherill stated on the evening news "they've had coming for some time"...no Supreme Court at all and District Court reduced by 1/4 - 1/3...so Regional South Australia can look forward to travelling to Adelaide to try and access what passes for justice in this state...
And the Sturt St Courts in Adelaide are also going to be closed, and less Courts means longer waiting for a case to even start, etc.
And how does that affect the Weatherill government's alleged commitment to improving access to the Courts for people with disability issues?...(a rhetorical question?...which is in and of itself a rhetorical question-Ed)...yes, and very amusing too...yes it is going to be hard to improve services when you're pulling funding and closing actual courts...
I refer to my previous post re the Friday 14th June 2013 launch of the Attorney General's Dept Improving Court Access for the Disability Sector Discussion Paper Roundtable Thinktank Forum Consultation ...(you right there champ-Ed)...yeah, if I stop coming up with new names for it I'm gonna swear...I swear...
As stated in previous post, the entire process is an absolute farce designed to give the impression that Weatherill and Labor give a stuff about the Disability and Mental Health Sectors, and the Labor government some sort of credibility on same as we head toward the March 2014 state Election...'ooo, look at all the talking we've done'...
It is unmitigated bastardry of the highest order to offer vulnerable people some potential hope, and then within a week reef it away again with massive funding costs...it's going to be hard enough for us normal people to access the Courts, let alone those poor people with disabilities...(um...you're on the Disability Support Pension for Agoraphobia, Depression, etc, re all the St Martins stuff...remember?...the previous posts?-Ed)...oh yeah...
Apologies for my crass attempt at humour on such a serious issue, but appreciate that my anger is very, very genuine...and that smug smirk on Weatherill's face...what a bastard...
And I note that Simon Stretton, formerly of the Crown Solicitors Office and one of several therein whom threatened me re 'shut up about the St Martins Child Abuse Cover-up and stop calling us corrupt, or we'll gaol you' (paraphrase and also several previous posts) is now a magistrate...charming...
UGHhhhhh, enough for one day...
Tomorrow: More Rail Lands Retail Agenda from The Border Watch
Now it's a shrekin' great Terrarium, Arboreum, Greenhouse freakout monster glass construction for the Old Hospital site...absolutely insane and all about keeping the Rail Lands clear for Retail Development, at any cost, at great cost to the majority, to benefit those few whom dwell beneath contempt....shrek I'm tried...sorry if this has turned to dribble....tomorrow is a day and this is a blog...my blog...and I'm Nick Fletcher...laters...
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