Hello and welcome and mild apologies for 1) missing a post yesterday, but had company all afternoon, some dinner, did a bitta' bloggin', but had a break and then fell asleep on the couch, it was a real 'crash-and-crash-out'...I clearly needed that 7 hours sleep...(7 whole hours you greedy sleepig-Ed)...orr fair go! normally it's 5 at night if I'm lucky and a nanna-nap in the arvo every few days...(fair enough-Ed)...and apology 2) this 'ere bit-piece catch-up post cobbled together from not necessarily related issues...(well you do that every post, so why apologise?-Ed)...fair enough...
But first, helllllooooooo Turkey and welcome back to y'all...don't know what happened but, not a word of a lie, yesterday 'Turkey' wasn't viewing the blog at all, for at least a month...(I believe that you posted about this very recently-Ed)...I believe you that you believe that, and we'd both be right...***and now a massive 3) has lobbed it's collective ugliness into my morning with a Stuart Stansfield interview with outgoing Mt Gambier City Councillor Jim Maher...more at the end...***
Hello again availees in Turkey...I don't know what happened, but for a few moments I considered the possibility that I had managed to offend an entire nation...(do ya' reckon this 'ere blog maybe got caught up in the Twitter shutdown kerphuffle stuff where Turkish President Recep Teyyep Erdogan completely albeit briefly shut down Twitter due to issues of public dissent/opposition/whatevs?-Ed)...indeed, I noted this story as one of several that happened to be on the ChillingEffects Interweb site when I was researching yesterday's post...but I digress...
In the last few weeks there was a buncha' stuff goin' through the Mt Gambier media re Mental Health service provision, not least of all the cynical bastardry of the Headspace (Youth Mental Health service) announcement, and this was rudely rammed home with one of those classic Country Health SA interviews on the ABC last week when their representative reeled off all sortta' fabulous figures as facts, lurching from pillar to post, and then right at the end spat out the truth and shot through...(charming-Ed)...
Ms Rebbeccah Graham repeatedly stated as fact that there are/were 15 new staff at the 6 bed Mental Health Ward at the Mt Gambier Hospital "early next year"...she also stated that there were 40 people providing MH services in the South East, and that changed to 400 later in the interview, but that could have been referring to Sow Straya as a whole, wasn't clear...the main part of the interview naturally focussed on the 'moratorium' on Medicare Local MH Referrals that is supposedly going to help the service catch-up on a massive back-log...and as posted the other day, I know at least one young woman who is currently trying to get a GP referral to get a MH referral, but a referral to whom/where?
Note: I am not a medical professional and I am not in anyway suggesting that people shouldn't try to get a referral, if you want/need help politely insist on a GP appointment and then politely insist on a referral.
But I repeat, Ms Graham repeatedly stated as fact that Country Health SA were doing great work and that they had 15 new staff for this new unit...not 'hoping to get', or even 'we're very confident that we'll get', it was a straight out statement made several times over...then right at the end of the interview she suddenly stated that the ads for those positions were going to go out "soon"...if you missed the last 30 seconds of that interview you'd be left thinking that these people were employed and on the way...(but they haven't even advertised yet?-Ed)...exactly...
All of these statements about how Mental Health services will suddenly appear in Mt Gambier fully staffed, are statements made ignoring the facts re the ongoing barriers to staff recruitment that sees us in the predicament we are currently in - no resident psychiatrist where there should be 6 for the population base, the Mental Health Referral Service closed, 1 person doing Drug/Alcohol Counselling for the entire Lower South East, etc, etc - it's an unmitigated perpetual fiasco ignored by people who know exactly what the issues are.
It's one thing to hold forth in absolute ignorance...(like in a blog say?-Ed)...exactly, but it's another thing, hang on, sorry, what?...(or is 'forth' your pet name for your penis?-Ed)...I what? hang on, where the...I...(I think what you're trying to say is that it's one thing to make outrageously ridiculous and clearly deceitful claims, about anything, to make those statements in ignorance of the facts, but it's a whole other barrel of rotten apples to make these statements knowing full well that it ain't gunna' happen-Ed)...no no, what was that penis jibe?...
(I've a couple of personal sayings for such circumstances...1) Ignorance alone is merely ignorance, but ignorance with pride is sheer f***in' stupidity...and 2) Mistakes made in ignorance can hurt on a par with more deliberate acts...so basically, yes it's one thing to make genuine mistakes, but ya' gotta' accept that without any ill-intent involved, you can really stuff things up for others, and an apology is sometimes warranted regardless of what you personally think...but my main point here is that these people know damn well what they're lying about and that makes them liars, not ignorami...and before you ask, I think ignorami is the plural of ignoramus, and if it isn't it should be-Ed)...
Just reporting now on ABC Radio that the Medicare Local Mental Health Referral Service will re-open on Monday 2nd November, and they're looking to speak to local GPs about taking on some of the workload...(so they haven't actually spoken to them yet?-Ed)...dunno, that's what's so infuriating about how slackly some things are reported, but yes, the way this story was reported would indicate that they haven't actually even made that approach yet...(but they've been shut for 6(?) weeks because they're overloaded, so why haven't they made that contact, even made it months ago? they must have seen this closure sometime ahead of it actually happening-Ed)...well exactly...
There was nothing in this report about how the Medicare Local intends to deal with the last 6 weeks worth of referrals that are waiting for them when they re-open Monday, but I'll try to get all optimistic about the fact that at least it's opening again, I did have my concerns that they wouldn't re-open...(but aren't the federal Liberals axing the Medicare Locals and replacing them with some similar service?-Ed)...again, well exactly, and what will happen with that further disruption to services?...Medicare Local haven't been able to recruit permanent professionals, so why will any new authority be any different?...(I don't know-Ed)...no, it was a rhetorical question...(*more tomorrow*)
And just when I was getting somewhere with catching-up on some stuff, up comes this interview with Jim Maher, who is retiring off Council after 8 years because of 'the time, demands on individuals and families, etc and there's more to do with life'...Jim stated that his 3 aspirations were 'Environmental Sustainability, Community, and Sustainable Growth and Development', with the ES stuff carried forward in Council as a major part of thinking...(what ES stuff?-Ed)...well Council now has a Sustainability Officer and Sub-committee and there are solar panels planned for the library, apparently, and that this all stemmed from a 'chance meeting with Steb Fisher at Generations in Jazz' and there's now a 'strong framework and it'll grow around that framework'...
Then it was something about how 'Councils underlying history is roads, buildings, etc, but how Mt Gambier City Council has great community well-being ideas, activities, etc, a tradition for many years, eg, Lifelong Learning and it's wonderful outcomes...then Jim started praising Council for their relations with Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islanders, identifying a 'better relationship with the flags displayed, we've come a long way'...and when Stuart Stansfield quite rightly put it to Jim that 'it took a long time getting there, why?', Jim expressed his frustration re the flags, stating "wish I knew" and something about 'a lack of support, we can have flags in the Chamber but it's underlying attitudes not just physical outcomes, to reflect community & outcomes...and there's a long way but still to go..it's complex...and I'm also probably guilty of judgements and thinking based on my heritage'...
(But he was on Council for 8 years and it took until the last few months of that for Council to display the flags-Ed)...I know...(and Council directly voted down displaying the flags only a coupla' years back-Ed)...indeed...(so I'd say there are no 'underlying attitudes', I'd say those attitudes are right up on top evident to any whom care to look-Ed)...indeed...the discussion then shifted to Jim's unwavering commitment to the Labor Party, with himself, wife Viv Maher, and son Kyam all Labor candidates, with Kyam Maher a current Member of the Legislative Council...
When asked about the issue of City Councillors with Liberal ties and/or general party politics, Jim stated 'there's very little influence', and in response to 'are there politically based voting blocs on Council?', Jim replied outright "no", that 'blocs emerge inevitably but there are no voting blocs re parties, eg, Tony Pasin and I were Presidents of the local Liberals (Pasin) and Labor, and if voting blocs were evident it would mean we've gone backwards', and then 'I've been on Local Government delegations arguing against Labor government policy'...and when asked yet again, Jim yet again stated 'no, don't see it'...
Cr Maher then very politely criticised those who are promoting themselves as having no specific political ties and/or actually don't, as being people taking "a shallow approach" to politics...the discussion was closed out with Cr Maher's extended observations that Council does alright but have improvements to make with public consultation and communication...(and his very final bit about 'people who need to do appropriate research on issues like the Rail Lands and bike lanes' and something about not being impressed with slogans, but 'far more impressed with people who have gone away and do their research and know the history and underlying facts'-Ed)...indeed...
These are clearly paraphrases from a long interview, quickly typed down whilst listening, but I am very confused about a number of issues raised, and indeed it would appear that I have made a series of quite erroneous claims on this 'ere blog previous, eg, that there are politically aligned blocs controlling local Councils, the Rail Lands Retail Agenda, etc, so I'm contacting Cr Maher to seek clarification on these issues...keep ya' posted...
Tomorrow: The Council Meeting Of 21st October 2014...Wow
(Unbeshreckinlievable-Ed)...all I can say is wow...wow...an hour of mutual self-praise that politely glazed over any hint of reality...
Written and Authorised by Nick Fletcher, 16 Kooringa St, Mt Gambier, SA 5290
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