Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd: has resigned from Federal politics but waited until the first day of the new parliament to make sure he got maximum exposure for himself...I'm sorely tempted to make some sort of puerile joke about 'how Labor has scraped off the last of the Krudd, but the mud is still likely to stick'...(yes that is a rather crude way of 'verbally montaging' the broader discussion that he has timed this for his own benefit, and that ultimately it may physically remove him from the chamber but not as a target of Liberal derision-Ed).
I think it's a compromise...(how so?-Ed)...well sure, Labor wanted him gone to minimise the targets for a Liberal Party already behaving like private school prefects...(and it's a sad bloody day for alleged democracy in this bloody country when the language used in this blog is more respectful than that used on the floor of parliament-Ed)...well not quite, but I take your point...but with Labor wanting him gone both for party stability and a 'lower target profile' in parliament, I'm sure they were happy to let him have his moment of glory...
Woke up today, turned on the news, and first cab off the rank?...world-wide Internet Child Pornography ring busted by Canadian police, and 65 Australians arrested, and 12 of those from South Ostraya, and 2 of those from Mt Gambier...and it's 40+ teachers, some priests, police, nurses, volunteers, etc...sorry, did someone say 'Breaker Morant'?...I could have sworn I heard someone say 'get all Breaker Morant on their arses'...(you'll have to explain that one-Ed)...sure, there is a famous 'quote' from the British Military Trial of 3(?) Australian soldiers during the Boer War.
When asked by what authority he had 'executed' prisoners, Harry 'Breaker' Morant apparently/allegedly responded, 'We tried them by Rule 303, we found them guilty by Rule 303, we executed them by Rule 303' (paraphrase)...and 303 is of course referring to the Lee Enfield 303 Rifle...enough said...other than to say that ultimately, no, I do not support Capital Punishment, and not least of all because we continue to occasionally convict innocent people.
But deadset, 30 seconds into the day and bang! there it is...and it's the sadness of it all, and the discussion that it is only one of hundreds of such sites, and the fact that this has happened at all, etc...and I know that I constantly rail against police for their failures, but there is that glimmer of hope that at least something has been done to protect these children...and I allow myself that brief sliver of optimism that in this context 'even some small thing is better than nothing'...(fair enough-Ed).
And I try to consider the 'grooming' statements emanating from the Child Abuse Royal Commission in the same light...how is it that we are yet to address this and it is still so far to go, but at least getting the discussion about grooming into the public arena will hopefully help parents to empower and protect themselves and their children...and therefore it's a positive...just.
I've tried to apply this same rationale to the article from The Border Watch Thursday 14th November 2013 (attached below) re City Council and the expanded Mt Gambier Gaol (that is actually in the Grant District Council) and issues of inmates families moving to Mt Gambier, and/or offenders moving here...and after some considerable effort I managed to come to the same conclusion...at least the issue is being discussed...(but you're still not happy are you?-Ed)...no I'm not...
Mt Gambier City Council would surely be aware (not least of all because I've covered it in the blog) that the Grant District Council have already conducted this research and have established there are issues of accommodation, health provision, schooling, etc...and I believe that it has also been established that offenders/families/whatevs will reside in Mt Gambier...(but at least City Council is looking at it now-Ed)...fair enough...
But isn't it all a bit late to start talking about the impacts for Mt Gambier now that these massive Gaol Expansions have already happened? The Rann/Weatherill Labor state government knows exactly what these issues are and haven't funded Cent One for anything other than the Gaol Expansion itself...oh, and be grateful for the shrekin' jobs...(come on big fella, stay on task-Ed)...whatevs...everybody knows what the issues are and there is no funding...and City Council cannot be congratulated for a post stampede gate bolting when that ship has already sailed...(waaah?-Ed)...
Funding For Services In Mt Gambier: re the Gaol Expansion is a debate that should have been had long ago, and I have been trying to raise these issues with the Mt Gambier media for years, without success...(particularly the dual issues of 1) majority of the gaol population being sex offenders 2) mostly being moved from Adelaide and staying here, their families, etc...yes I'll give you that-Ed)...ta...actually it was the families stuff first and then someone told me I was wrong about that, 'they're all paedophiles', and it's one of the issues that finally drove me to start this blog...(true, I'll also give you that-Ed)...ta...
And the Grant District Council should be contributing to and lobbying for funding for these services in Mt Gambier, given that they are responsible for the area where the Gaol is located...and I don't buy the argument that DC Grant ultimately had no say in this...City Council were all but silent, and DC Grant were all up for it...I apologise if I missed it, but I am unaware of one single voice of dissent, one sentence of opposition, as this process unfolded...and my attempts fell on barren ground.
From the TBW article;
"The prison is now home to 280 prisoners following a 108 bed expansion...(and) another
60 bed expansion will be rolled out. The prison houses a large number of sex offenders
and they are provided with special programs."
Rann/Weatherill Labor is dumping Adelaide's sex-offenders, a good number of whom are paedophiles, in Mt Gambier, and it's too late to stop that and nobody tried...well I tried, but obviously not hard enough.
I also have concerns that Council will use any 'investigation' they do to dismiss the issue as being without merit and/or factual substance...'perceptions in the community' that 'need to addressed with facts' could very easily become 'we've looked at it and there's no evidence, no need to worry'...(and would have the added bonus of addressing and dismissing many of the things we've been discussing re the Gaol Expansion on this 'ere blog-Ed)...possibly.
I am not surprised to see that it is Councillor Jim Maher who has raised this issue, albeit probably too late, and whilst I wouldn't claim to know his motivations, I don't think this is a political issue or 'stunt' or anything re the March 2014 state election...and if it is I would hope that Cr Maher is seeking to exercise his influence to gain some of this much needed funding, services, etc.
And just being reported (ABC Local Radio) that a South East government primary school teacher is one of the people charged re the Canadian Police operation, and that he was withdrawn in August and moved to administrative duties and a letter sent to parents in September following advice from police, but that letter didn't explain why the teacher was gone...I don't know whether this is one of the two South East teachers 'suspended' (?) earlier this year...(well one of those was a headmaster facing rape charges allegedly to do with an adult, but it could be the other one-Ed)...and I also don't know if this person is one of the 2 stated earlier today to be from Mt Gambier.
I remind readers that Mt Gambier has no Child Protection Services...SAPol is not Child Protection, FACS is not Child Protection, the Education Dept is not Child Protection...there is no specific Child Protection service...we went through this with the St Martins Lutheran School Child Abuse Cover-up where we parents had to organise for Adelaide based Flinders Child Protection Service to come to Mt Gambier to do bit-piece interviews with our kids spread out over months...what a fiasco.
And because it's been stated to and/or asked of me, I don't know if this blog has specifically influenced the 'sex-offender' and 'services' issues becoming a relatively public discussion, but, again, I have been pursuing these issues for years, without success, until I posted on the blog...the same question has been asked of me, the same statement made to me, re the Old Hospital Demolition, front page of TBW yesterday, 'Hospital dispute', Litigation looms over $2.5m sale price shortfall...and so...
Tomorrow: The Hospital Saga Sags
What the shrek?...what the heck is going on now with this nonsense...Council can't even make a derelict building fall over without it descending into costly farce...and just for the record, yes I did state in my post re the Demolition (in February?) that this project would blow out to $10million...but I still hope to be wrong.
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...enjoy your weekend and cheers and laters.
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