Hello world and welcome to the mind-numbing excitement of sitting through yet another Council meeting...and why should I be the only one to suffer...(right on, don't just share the love baby when there's so much pain to go 'round-Ed)...
But First, More Hypocrisy: that I forgot to include in the previous posts re the Hypocrisy of Playing Politics...and hot on the heels of their ludicrously transparent Integrated Transport and Land Use Plan, Labor has now released a 40 page 'Regional Statement'...when I first heard this 'RS' mentioned last week I thought that it was another story about aspects of the ITLUP...surely, I thought to myself, surely the Rann/Weatherill Labor government wouldn't come up with 2 concurrent loads of absolute crap...(ah, so naive-Ed).
Just for the record re the ITLUP, last week in Adelaide during the extreme heat, the public transport system was in absolute chaos with trains stopping mid run and/or lengthy holdups, track problems, cancellations that weren't announced, etc, and Public Transport Minister Chloe 'The Lights Are On But Don't Bother Knocking' Fox, arguably the most vacuous politician in South Australian parliament, gets her mug on the news bleating about 'gee whiz it's not good enough and I'll be looking into that'...(super, so that's all sorted then-Ed)...thankyou, I'll do the sarcasm 'round here.
(And aren't you being a little harsh on Chloe Fox?-Ed)...no, I'm sick of seeing/hearing her talk about 'looking into things' whilst the same debacle unravels around her...it's nearly as bad as Minister Gail Gago and her dribble about how the Regional Statement is reflective of the aspirations of country people and was drafted after 'lots of work with locals and reflects their ideas'...so according to Ms Gago it's the Liberals who are insulting Regional SA in criticising the RS as being a pointless thought-bubble, an 'embarassment that treats Regional peoples with disdain' about 'Regional issues that Labor should already understand after 12 years in power and/or are already available'...(fair point-Ed)...exactly...
Ms Gago reckons that means the Liberals are dismissing the input of regional people, "this is not a blueprint" but 'a guideline that places the responsibility with locals with some support from government' and was 'driven by locals'...(bollocks...the state is run from North Tce, for North Tce, and 'Regional locals' have no say or control over what Labor have done for their entire time in government which is sacrifice, slash, and dismantle...look at the Wind Turbines Fascism, the Forestry Sell-off, the Keith Hospital palaver, Fracking at Penola, etc, etc, etc...wherever you look it's 'slash and burn' to prop up Adelaide-Ed)...testify.
Both the ITLUP and the RS are farcical pre-election 'Blue Sky' documents that are designed to deceive and distract...deceive by giving the impression that Labor has some sort of plan for the future, and distract from the reality of what they have done to date...and that is sacrifice everything Regional to pay for baubles for Adelaide (please see previous posts)...I completely reject these 2 documents as farcical and offensive...these documents are for the consumption of Adelaidites who generally have no idea what is going on in their own state...but I digress...
No Politics in Local Government: didn't stop Mt Gambier City Councillor Andrew Lee from unleashing that most definitive of political expediencies, the Dorothy Dixer, at the last Council meeting for 2013, held last Tuesday 17th December...(a DD is a question deliberately asked as a set up for a self-promotional answer-Ed)...exactly, and is used by government backbenchers to set up their own Ministers for propaganda style responses...and so Cr Lee asked Council's Operations Director Daryl Sexton to explain to Council how great everything is going with the Old Hospital Demolition.
(Let me guess...everything's just super and on-time and on-budget and there's no asbestos and blah, blah, blah-Ed)...exactly, it's almost like you were there...there was something about some Asbestos but that's all fine and it's all apparently under budget and everything's super...and the 'propping-up of the Old Laundry' is an extra cost that's not part of the original Tender and therefore likely to be a costly 'variance' that doesn't appear on official costs.
As always the fundamental problem I have with anything coming out of Council is their repeatedly demonstrated propensity for deceit, eg, their constantly changing justification for failing to act on the Old Rail lands, followed by the current shenanigans of moving the easement to make room for the Shopping Centre they are clearly still pursuing for that site...they are not interested in presenting accurate, factual information to ratepayers, rather Council presents their own agenda supported by their own version of facts and figures.
This criticism is not just a manifestation of my displeasure, an unjust criticism mired in personal animosity...(no, it's all that and then some-Ed)...hilarious, but many a true word spoken in jest...
Well Punch My Buttons: with a Ride-by attendance by some clowns in lycra who lobbed into the meeting 10 minutes late and then left the moment their 'Bicycle Lanes' issue was discussed...and who dragged their kids along to mill about out the front of the meeting for their photo opportunities with the ABCs Stuart Stansfield and The Border Watch...
I contextually apologise to these 'Bicyclers' in that I'm venting about an issue that has really pissed me off on a number of occasions, just that theirs is the latest and probably most blatant example...(example of what?-Ed)...I'm getting there...an example of people who show up to Council meetings solely for the purpose of hearing their particular issue, and then leave...don't show up at all until it's about them and what they want and then when that's done, they leave.
Council spent far more time on this 'Bike Lane' issue than any other, bleating about how the state government doesn't listen to it and it isn't fair and blah, blah, blah, and bloody boohoo...and do they have any idea how ridiculous they sound/appear when complaining about being treated in exactly the same manner they treat the ratepayers of Mt Gambier?
Along with the embarrassing capitulation re displaying the Aboriginal and Torres Straight islander flags in Chambers...these two issues took up more time than everything else combined.
For all of the disastrous, self-indulgent and fiscally devastating decision making that Council perpetrates on Mt Gambier, constantly justified and defended with a carefully manipulated construct of their versions of the facts...(down our way we call them lies-Ed)...indeed...and I have earned my right to (and proudly own) my animosity toward Council given their outrageous conduct toward me...rather than go through it all again I ask that readers review my posts re, for example, the 'Budget Consultation' meetings earlier this year.
A quick indulgence though because I am not above mocking and taunting Mayor Steve Perryman for his pathetic, transparent and ultimately failed attempts to pick fights with me at 2 of those meetings...and regardless of my conduct leading into those meetings, what does it say of him and Council that this is how they behave toward people who speak out about Council's corruption and incompetence...(people?...why the plural?...don't you mean 'the person'...don't see anyone else trying-Ed)...fair point...
Conflict of Interest: issues arose yet again re a Liquor License Application and saw Crs Biddie Shearing and Andrew Lee excuse themselves, but yet again Mayor Perryman and Cr Des Mutton failed to identify their COIs and remained in the Chamber...just the latest in a long line of COIs where members sort of just wander in and out randomly, leaving some meetings but not others...(or even leaving at one point in a meeting but not later on in the same meeting on the very same issue-Ed)...quite.
I'm Very Confused: though as to the sudden and very brief announcement that Council is reducing rates to 'only 5%', down from the current '6.9%'...(I thought it was meant to be 6.1% currently-Ed)...no idea, I'm just quoting how I heard it stated, that rates had been dropped from there, '6.9%', down to '5%'...(but why?...and how?-Ed)...second question first - no idea, there was no discussion about how - and why? - again no discussion - but I'll hazard a guess...aren't there Local Government elections less than a year away?...(ah, of course-Ed)...
Even More Confusing: is that this massive rate reduction appears to have received no coverage in the local media...I apologise if I missed it...but I would have thought that this was front page, lead story, critical news for the people of Mt Gambier...why has that not happened?
I'll pull stumps here, but this arvo I'll post the Review Post about where various issues currently sit.
This Arvo: What's Happening to What
And a brief heads-up that for the larger part, nothing's changed.
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers and laters.
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