Last evening one attended Mt Gambier City Council's 'Special Budget Meeting...(sorry what?-Ed)...Council's 'Special Budget Meeting' for their 2015/2016 Budget...(last night?-Ed)...yep...(sorry, I was unaware that there was a meeting-Ed)...no need to apologise Ed, apparently no-one else knew about it either...(so how many people did attend?-Ed)...I already told you...(what? where?-Ed)...right there, "one"...("one"?-Ed)...one...(one person attended Council's Budget meeting?-Ed)...and we use 'person' in it's loosest possible definition...(indeed we do, you ManBear StuffPig you-Ed)...ohlll, stop it already you...(no, you stop-Ed)...no, you stop...(nooo, you stop-Ed)...why don't I both stop...(is that a reference to my existence as a 'confected literary device' used to create a sense of debate rather than diatribe, set-up jokes, etc, not an actual person?-Ed)...spot on...
(So how'd you know it was on, the meeting that is?-Ed)...just spotted a small article on page 6 of yesterday's The Border Watch, but there could have been some mention somewhere else, say, in TBW under 'Council business' or some such, dunno', can't find one and don't remember it being mentioned at Council's last meeting...might be on their website, whatevs, certainly isn't mentioned on their February meeting Agenda re meetings for March 2016...(whatevs indeed, it's a far cry from their 2013/14 Budget meetings debasco-Ed)...indeed it is...as covered in posts of the time (April-June 2013), those 5 meetings at the library were a metaphoric bloodbath for Council, as perpetually re-lived here on this 'ere blog...(it's almost like Council hasn't got the guts to leave it's little Ivory Tower and face the public, so concerned in fact they don't even want Joe Public at meetings held in the Council Chambers-Ed)...are you suggesting Ed, that Council is so fragile to the point of fractile that they need to hunker down in their bunker, in the warming embrace of their Special Place, where Large Angry Hippies are not free to let their opinions-let-alone voice roam?...
(And when they 'suspended normal procedures' to have their chat about the Budget, didn't that mean that you could have commented from the gallery because it wasn't a 'proper meeting' anymore?-Ed)...it certainly occurred to me in the moment, but whatevs, ne'ery an actual word passed these occasionally hissing lips...(by 'hissing', do you mean like in fury?-Ed)...no, not really, certainly pissed-off, but hardly furious, I just get a mad attack of the SADS...(SADS?-Ed)...Sudden And Debilitating Sadness Syndrome...(you made that up, that's never a real thing-Ed)...made-up the name, sure, but it's sure as heck a real thing...symptoms include Crash-and-Burn Intermittent Narcolepsy (CABIN), Frequently Attending Ruddy Council Meetings (FARCM), and a Distinct Inability To Stop Bloggin' (DITSB)...(hurrah!-Ed)...indeed, hurrah...(and doesn't Agoraphobia result in CABIN Fever?-Ed)..sorry, is that a terrible joke about Agoraphobics' inability to leave the house, etc, often resulting in a type of 'Cabin Fever' which is usually associated with people isolated due to bad weather, etc?...(but many a true word spoken in jest-Ed)...fair enough...
And I swear I must have this wrong, because I also swear that last night I saw Council talk about 'revenue deficits' in terms of $180,000 being equivalent to a 1% rise in rates, in a context where Council also agreed to hand Councillor Steve Perryman's self-appointed 'Tourism Working Party' $160,000...(wow-Ed)...and I swear I hope I'm wrong that discussion about Council stumping-up $90,000 for a Tourism Development Officer, was $90,000 as part of that unbelievable $160,000, because otherwise that'd be $250,000 that Council's handing to Stevo's li'l club of self-appointed luminaries...(but isn't former MGC Councillor Biddie (Tietz) Shearing already employed full-time as the Regional Development Australia Limestone Coast Tourism Development Officer?-Ed)...well apparently, but gourd knows what she's doin', nobody's heard a peep from her in ages...(whatevs, it's irrelevant what she's doing or not, point being, the RDALC already has a fully dedicated employee in that exact position-Ed)...fair enough...
Watch this space for Council or the self-appointed TWP employing one of their own family or 'vested interests' mates to the wholly un-neccesary and extremely costly $90,000 TDO position...this reeks of the standard Council corruption and nepotism re 'jobs for mates' as paid for by Ratepayers...unqualified apologies to those genuine employees involved, those just trying to do their jobs, etc, but Mt Gambier City Council is a vastly bloated bureaucracy furiously self-justifying with created and often ludicrously frivolous non-issues, and awash with relentless nepotism and corruption...(yay-Ed)...
And what really steamed me about the whole 'debate' was Steve mates's...(maaate's-Ed)...self-entitled, self-important ranting about how Council can cut footpath maintenance and tree management, etc, to fill the gap in their Budget, a rolling, rollicking, repetitive rant riddled with whinging about how 'PC everything is', a whinge that included having a pot-shot at people with disabilities and how there needs to be more personal responsibility, etc...(what a class act is our Stevo, mate-Ed)...maaate...
A Brief Digression:...just listening to the Mt Gambier ABC Radio hugely praising themselves-up for their Facebook site and how they're the voice of the people, etc, etc...(what?! whatta' joke!-Ed)...indeed, what a farcical joke given what the ABC hides from it's listeners, eg, the St Martins Lutheran School Child Abuse Cover-up...and re comments left on Facebook, "we're not saying people can't have an opinion"...(unless of course you're Nick Fletcher-Ed)..and we am, aren't we Ed...(indeed, and then we're abused and mocked by ABC staff, banned off the air, censored out of Mayoral Election campaigns, viciously attacked in seriously problematic 'official ABC statements', and generally and wholly discriminated against-Ed)...well what do you expect when you're Nick Fletcher...
And Then This Below:...obviously I ain't the only one who's been cutting-crook about this farcical ICAC 'investigation', previous on this 'ere blog I've already covered the rankly corrupted 'investigation' of Labor Minister Jennifer Rankine, a secret 2 year 'investigation' that just stopped for a full year, etc, etc, and then completely exonerated Ms Rankine, wife of Lower House Speaker and former Labor Attorney General, Michael Atkinson...(wow-Ed)...yeah, I know...exonerated her of doing exactly what she had done, which is what she was being investigated for...(wow again-Ed)...and then the farcically pointless Australian Press Council steps in to protect Ms Rankine as well...(didn't the APC just ignore/dismiss your complaints re the extraordinary conduct of The Border Watch during the 2010 State Election campaign?-Ed)...indeed, all covered in previous posts...
I urge availees to access the InDaily article and follow the link to the APC findings, findings that are self-evidently self-contradictory, eg, the pedantic nonsense dismissing the journo's claims that '2 Authorities investigated Minister Rankine', when the Findings clearly identify an initial investigation by the Ombudsman that allegedly cleared her, then involvement of both the Office of Public Integrity and the ICAC...(hold on, doesn't the Ombudsman and/or the OPI have to report corruption to the ICAC?-Ed)...indeed...(then how can the Ombudsman clear her but there be a related ICAC investigation?-Ed)...I, I, don't know, great question Ed...(and furthermore, if the Ombudsman cleared her why did it then go to the OPI and ICAC?-Ed)...another great question to which I have no answer...(and if the Ombudsman investigated and cleared her, and then the OPI and ICAC 're-investigated', doesn't that clearly qualify as '2 investigations'?-Ed)...stop it already, so many great questions, no answers...
I note 2 specific parts of this story, attached, as taken from the InDaily website the part about 1) the journalist being 'not a public servant and therefore not subject to ICAC legislation'...(that rings familiar-Ed)...doesn't it though...and 2) the journo didn't specifically identify anything, merely alluding to the ICAC investigation...whatevs, this story shows that a journo writing professionally for an actual paper, about something that's actually happened, can be the victim of ICAC legislation, legislation that by it's own definition applies specifically to public employees/elected officials/whatevs...bottom-line, here's proof of the massive problems with institutionalised corruption in South Australia, corruption that starts in the Labor Party, flourishes with the tacit but unwavering support of the equally corrupted Liberal Party, and as fully protected by the ICAC Act 2012......
Having been initially officially protected by the ICAC, the wholly incompetent former Minister Rankine then holds forth from behind Parliamentary Privilege about the exposure of that rank corruption, using her also protected and privileged position to hang-it on a journo who has just told the truth...(who the shreck is Jennifer Rankine to condemn this journo, she wouldn't know the truth if it reared-up and bit 'er!-Ed)...indeed Ed, from start to wherever it finishes, it's a corrupt farce from a farcically corrupt State...
The Independent Commission Against Corruption should have 'Being Appropriately Investigated And Resolved' as part of it's official title because that's what it was designed to do, that's how it's been set-up, and that's how it's operated thus far...the ICAC Act 2012 is purely about shutting-down any discussion about and/or exposure of the institutionalised corruption that has bankrupted this sad, sick State, and thusly protect the rankly corrupt, particularly the corruption evident in the Labor Party, and more broadly our charming State Parliament...
Tomorrow: My Latest Court Stuff
From the sublime to the ridiculous, my latest hearing on Monday 7th March 2016 re 19 charges of 'talking about stuff' was held in a 'closed Court' (no media, no public), here in Mt Gambier 450kms from Adelaide the seat of State Government and Law, and allegedly un-recorded, and I've been refused recording it myself, and with the defendant (me) without legal representation...(wow-Ed)...in the precedent prosecution of this hugely powerful legislation involved, that I 'probably' cannot/should not identify by name because that in itself may be a further breach...(wow, and may I say, strewth-Ed)...well quite, and that's just the jumping-off point Ed, from there it's a farcical free-fall through appropriate procedure and justice...
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers and laters...
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