Hello Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, Poland, and here in Sow Straya...to cut to the chase, I'm suggesting by the title that it is a good thing to be concerned about your community, your environment, your economy, your neighbour...do give a damn about South Australia and the world, or we all are...damned that is...(bloody hippy-Ed)...
I'm loving this 'do the post in the afternoon' regime that I've instituted to get around the 'lose a day' backwash of doing some posts...but I can't stop my 'media addiction' (previous posts) and still get jittery if I miss 'The Country Hour', etc...but it's already late, so a list not a story today...
The Thingy: I still don't know what I can and/or cannot say about the thingy I might and/or might not have mentioned several times recently, allegedly, but possibly shouldn't have regarding that alleged thingy being looked at by those people...possibly...allegedly...allegedly possibly...and that's about all I can say about that...allegedly...(well thank you for clearing that up then-Ed)...tomorrow, nod, nod, wink, wink...(sorry, is there something in your eye?-Ed)...
No...just saying without saying what it is that needs to be said about the thingy being discussed, maybe tomorrow, when I have a better idea of what it is that I can and/or cannot say...(allegedly-Ed)...exactly.
Weirdest thing: the other day the blog kept dropping out and returning, and then told me that I had just 'logged out' from another site, dropped in and out, then wouldn't let me publish, and then when I finally could 'post', it immediately said on my 'post index' that a number of people had already viewed that post...before I'd posted it...probably just a glitch, and it hasn't happened since...but still weird...
Good News Unless You're A Cow: 180 jobs are set to be created at the JBS Bordertown Abattoir, and the company is stating that the reliability of the workforce (paraphrase) is part of the reason that they have chosen to make this their 'flagship' operation...(a genuine yay-Ed)...
It creates all sorts of wonderful problems, eg, how to accommodate anyone who moves to the town/area because of the increased employment...and some more serious issues like provision of health, education, transport, general support, etc...good luck to you Bordertown...(what sort of hippy celebrates a bigger abbattoir?-Ed)...an economically pragmatic, occasionally meat eating one...(fair enough-Ed)...
PATS: very disappointing but not surprising to see the Patient Assistance Transport Scheme 'Review' (previous posts) recently feature in a 3 inch article on page 15 or 17 or whatevs of The Advertiser newspaper...this is an unfortunate indicator of exactly what Regional SA means to the vast majority of Adelaideans, and follows on in the same vein as the atrocious 'under-reporting' of the Forestry Sale Protest Rallies of 2 years ago...
The PATS Review is symptomatic of the gross systemic biases visited on Regional SA, self declaring as an investigation of how to re-distribute the same woefully inadequate funding ($7-8million pa) amongst less people by changing eligibility criteria to deny many people any access to it at all...it's an absolute bloody disgrace that will have a devastating effect for Regional patients...a disgrace repeated by this minimal reportage...
Bed Shedding: the proposed '10 Bed Rehabilitation Units' that were supposed to be opening in Mt Gambier and Whyalla by July 2013, that's 3 months ago, will not be completed until July 2014, and state Liberal leader Stephen Marshall isn't the only person who thinks that they may yet just get shelved completely...and the blame aimed squarely at the massive and escalating costs of the New Royal Adelaide Hospital...
But Labor Health Minister Jack Snelling says no, that's not the reason, but I didn't hear him actually come up with a reason...sorry, I'm not sure whether this was meant to be part of the Mt Gambier Hospital Expansion...which has also faced major delays because Mr Snelling didn't organise the appropriate approvals from the building's owners...an expansion which, when and if completed, will hopefully include the 12 bed stand alone Mental Health Care Unit that Labor has repeatedly promised for a decade...oh, and it gets better...
Cuts Bite: It is alleged, again by the Liberals amongst others, that it was cuts to Regional Court Services that have just led to a Child Abuse case in Pt Augusta being postponed for two months, meaning all involved are left in limbo rather than the case being completed.
It's bad enough that the Court Services are being cut (from 6x4 weeks down to 3x3 in Mt Gambier District Court Circuits), but how does this relate to the Attorney Generals Department current 'Disability Justice Plan' investigation into "improving the criminal justice system for those with disability in SA".
It is not conceivably possible to 'improve the system' and access to it by massively cutting services and actual Court time, etc...it's a joke in very, very poor taste...in fact, I consider it beneath contempt to run a massively expensive 'Consultation and Investigation' program in the year leading up to the state election in 2014, when the reality is that you are drastically reducing the resources to provide those services...bastards...cynical bastards...
Hilarious Yet Not: I know nothing about Horse Racing and it means pretty much nothing to me...(a horse won the Melbourne Cup you know-Ed)...what a coincidence, I was just talking about horses...anyway...but I am aware that it is an industry, a lifestyle, a career, a hobby, an obsession, an event, etc, to many people...just not my thing.
Absolutely hilarious to hear Mt Gambier Racing Club General Manager and Mt Gambier City Councillor Allen Smith being interviewed yesterday (or was it Monday?-it's been a long week already) on the ABC Local Radio about the Mt Gambier Race Meeting scheduled for today Wednesday 2nd October 2013, and it being moved to Bordertown because of the water logged condition of the Mt Gambier track.
Minutes into an interview about the meeting having to be moved 180 kms because of a continuing problem with the track, Allen Smith was asked how things are going in general with the Race Club, and he said 'great' (paraphrasing)...I fell off my chair laughing, literally...it borders on bizarre...
Not so funny I'm sure for many people who had to re-organise their plans, not least of all those from Mt Gambier and surrounds who now had a 2 hour trip...only then to be in Bordertown by the time that the meeting was cancelled because the Racing Official's plane was stuck on the tarmac in Adelaide due to the intensely windy weather.
I don't know whether this was specific to the Bordertown airport or whether flights were also cancelled to Mt Gambier...I'll check...but it is important, because if the Official's could have accessed a normal Commercial flight to Mt Gambier and those flights weren't cancelled...(and we're assuming a flight had to be Chartered to Bordertown in a smaller plane, and again, we'll check-Ed)...then with all things being in place, it is the state of the Mt Gambier course that has caused a great deal of headache for many people...everything's clearly not 'great' Mr Smith...
I have no idea, but have had several people suggest to me ways of water-proofing the course to stop this continually happening, eg, laying a foot of sand under the turf...all I can offer is don't build your race course in a swamp...again, whilst this means very little to me, this particular meeting was a mini disaster for racers and racees and any number of service providers, etc...either Mr Smith just can't see the reality or he just doesn't want to admit it...I can't wait to hear him explain this fiasco...
And I can only say that I am sorry for what must have been a truly 'pissing off' (and likely costly) kind of day for many people involved...may it not happen again...
Tomorrow: Mission Demolition
This is where I start nodding interspersed with some seriously severe winking and vaguely alluding to the thingy...you know...tomorrow...nod...wink...twerk...
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers...
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