And I must acknowledge that that little bazinga comes courtesy of my child...cheers big ears...(bazinga?...I don't get it-Ed)...'Bell end' is a euphemism for a penis...(oh...hehehe-Ed)...I think it sums up perfectly all those officials involved.
Just another report about that which could no longer be hidden...and there will be mass chest-beating and exaggerated, animated hair-pulling, and wailing and moaning from Premier Jay Weatherill and the Labor state government and 'the Education Department must act on this "sobering" litany of failures', etc, etc, blah, blah, blah...but first...
Hello Vietnam, the Netherlands, Canada, Pakistan, the Philippines and France...and even if you're not reading this in Arizona, USofA, you are still in our thoughts. The death of 19 firefighters in a bushfire in Arizona has brought into sharp focus the dangers of fighting any fire, and the issue of insurance and health cover for volunteers with the Country Fire Service here in South Australia.
Given that all the ground work has been done in establishing a register of a dozen Cancers (and other associated illnesses?-I'm not sure) for which Metropolitan Fire Service workers will be 'covered if contracted' then it would be simple to apply those same 'rules' to volunteers.
There is no way to accurately calculate just exactly how much CFS volunteers contribute to our society, but it is a given, as far as I'm concerned, that they should be afforded every protection and every insurance...and that includes the security of knowing that if you contract Cancer from helping to protect your community in such a dangerous context, then we have your back.
In the terrible fires through Tasmania recently, and just before that through Victoria, many buildings, homes, sheds, etc, were raised and the detritus borne on the ferocious winds associated with any bushfire. What contaminants, particularly Asbestos, have been spread into the environment where volunteer firefighters are exposed?
In the Australia I want to live in, we look after each other, particularly those who literally risk their lives looking after us, and that means including 'Health Cover' for fire-fighting volunteers...end of story.
Yesterday I had the very genuine and distinct pleasure of being wrong...well, wrongish. I was not joking in previous posts when I said that I write many things hoping to be wrong...and sometimes things just happen to prove me wrong...the more the merrier as far as I'm concerned...
In previous posts I have been politely brutal about endorsed Liberal candidate for the 'safe' federal seat of Barker, Mr Tony Pasin...(politely?...I don't think that implied inference of and/or eluding to doggy-do is a polite brutalness...it's just unprofessional abuse-Ed)...yes, fair point, and I agree that base personal abuse achieves nothing, and that there are many places in this blog where I am venting, albeit driven by realities not of my creation...
So it is that credit must be given to Mr Pasin, Victorian Member for Wannon Dan Tehan, and 'Peter's Project' instigator Mrs Vicki Jellie for the small meeting Mr Pasin organised yesterday about the improvements in Cancer services available in Warnambool (now and in the near future) due to the efforts of 'Peter's Project'.
Mrs Jellie is to be congratulated for her courage following the death of her husband Peter, and for how she has applied herself to addressing the tragic realities of Cancer, and the positives she has created...well done that lady.
Mr Pasin and Mr Tehan are to be congratulated for helping to promote the 'Project' and the issue of Cancer treatments in general. Mr Pasin politely identifies the gross failure of state and federal governments, Labor and Liberal, in The Border Watch Friday 28th June, when he says;
"Radiotherapy treatment facilities in Warrnambool may provide treatment closer to home
for many patients from Mount Gambier and elsewhere in the lower South East."
At this point in time, the Labor state government has still yet to 'negotiate' the lease conditions with the building's owner, that will allow the alleged $28million expansion of the Mt Gambier Hospital, and as identified by Mr Pasin, there are very limited chemotherapy treatments available in Mt Gambier, no MRI, no radiotherapy, and only a 'part-time' visiting oncologist.
I believe that Mr Pasin, in both his comments and organising this forum, is quietly acknowledging the harsh realities...improved health services in Western Victoria are the best (and likely only) hope that South East residents will have in being able to access said services in this region, and therefore not having to go all the way to Adelaide (450kms one way).
I maintain that the South East has been written off, pretty much across the board, by government at all levels, and health services are just a litmus paper for that abandonment. The repeated Labor promise (2006 and again 2010 state elections) for a stand alone 12 bed Mental Health facility has simply faded away...it ain't gonna' happen...
Peter's Project is contactable via their website www.petersproject.org.au or 0439 000 935...check them out.
And wrong twice...having just sort of whinged lengthily about the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in yesterday's post, and outright criticised them in others, yesterday I was quietly stunned to be put to air on the ABC Drive program from Adelaide, broadcasting across the state, to effectively confront Premier Jay Weatherill about the St Martins Lutheran School Child Abuse issue. (previous posts)
Mr Weatherill was speaking about the Debelle Inquiry into the rape of an 8 year old and the abuse of several other children, and how that was so grossly mis-handled by various authorities upto and including the then Minister for Education (Weatherill's) personal staff, the Premier himself, Minister Grace Portolesi, etc, and started to blame the Department of Education for Grace Portolesi lying about the case on the floor of Parliament.
I rang only to make the point that in the case that I had been involved in for a decade, Mr Weatherill had been personally notified about the situation by my letters, (and of course he knows via the Mullighan Inquiry-previous posts) and that it was unacceptable to blame others for what he is responsible for.
I'll say it again...I was stunned that the producer, with a polite reminder to not use any names, put me to air.
After expressing my disappointment with Mr Weatherill blaming others, I identified myself and my involvement 'for over a decade in a high profile case here in Mt Gambier', and explained about writing to him personally...I was overcome with emotion and my voice started to crack...but no swearing, no names...just 'you know about this case'...
At that point the producer 'ended' my spiel (but not in a 'cut off' way, just a 'times up' way...there is a massive difference) and I spoke for several seconds thinking I was still on. Mr Weatherill responded something about letting him know, contact his office, but I clearly heard him say 'I don't recall that case' (paraphrase)..and this was confirmed to me by the ABC...
I cannot provide a direct word perfect quote because I was talking to the producer after my bit (Mr Weatherill's office was on the phone to them for my details) so I missed much of his response, so I won't risk it, but Premier Jay Weatherill clearly said, on statewide ABC Radio, that he didn't remember the St Martins Child Abuse issue.
Please review my previous posts re Commissioner Mullighan and the St Martins Issue, and when parliament sat in Mt Gambier in May 2005 and MP Peter Lewis twice raised the issue, etc, etc...all things that Mr Weatherill was/is directly involved in...
How could Jay Weatherill possibly forget?
So...genuinely happy to be wrong...well wrongish...and mark my words, I will only work harder to be more wrong about more things...let me predict disaster, and be wrong...let me identify deliberate failure and malfeasance, and be wrong...exactly how many wrongs do make it right?
May what I try to do to set things right, for all my faults and failings, be seen for what it is...but first this...
Tomorrow: Dobelle Ends - Part II - The Inquiry
My rabid cynicism about the Debelle Inquiry stems from a decade of alleged 'Inquiries' into the St Martins Issue and others in South Australia...and Mr Debelle hasn't let me down...and The Advertiser newspaper's coverage doesn't make me any happier, but, and I can't believe that I'm saying this, but buy/access today's (02/07/2013) Adelaide The Advertiser...
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers...
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