Firstly, sure, Friday was a shocker, and it takes a few days to get back a sense of equilibrium, a want to post and/or ability to produce anything 'postable', etc, but it was already 0800-ish Friday, from Wednesday...(fair enough-Ed)...but it is true that this ABC SE interview was yet another mind-numbing stagger through a 'pro-System/pro Labor state government' version of events, via/from a broadcaster definitively capable of gross pro-paedophile corruption...dear availees, The Mount Gambier Independent has proven beyond contradiction that the Rann/Weatherill Labor SA government and agencies like SAPol, Crown Solicitor, DPP, etc, are all knowingly complicit in the St Martins Lutheran School Child Abuse Cover-up, upto and including attacking parents/families of the children, and that that continues to happen...and right at the forefront of that systemic corruption is the Mt Gambier/South Australian media, particularly the ABC...(can I say 'bastards!'?-Ed)...well alright, fair enough, but just one...(bastards!-Ed)...that's twice...(I know-Ed)...fair enough...
And the ABC has operated as the 'National Broadcaster' in that this corruption has extended itself to the ABC's most senior staffers in South Australia, various national programs, and on through to the ABC's head office in Ultimo, Sydney, NSW, etc, etc...(and here yet again they're all trying to present the image, the very false image that there's a thorough and effective 'Child Protection System' in place and functioning in South Australia!-Ed)...and the reality's very, very different...(absolutely!-Ed)...just look at the multiple 'Child Protection Royal Commissions' in SA since the St Martins Cover-up kicked-off on the June long weekend 2002 when parent complaints and/or children's statements saw teacher Glyn Dorling finally but suddenly removed...each one has been promoted as a thorough and revolutionary review of the 'Child Protection System', with promises of vast funding attached, but has actually focused on a very specific corner of CP, usually within familial situations...
This forum/interview was again about abuse in care and/or families, apparently didn't include members of the public, they certainly weren't mentioned, and I didn't hear raised the issue of 'protecting kids in schools/whatevs from staff/whatevs'...a very specific 'closed' forum very specifically reported...(um, 'finally but suddenly'?-Ed)...there had been many, many complaints about Dorling's behaviour/conduct in the several years he was at St Martins, literally from his first week, and including from early 2002 onward, but then some specific children's statements finally forced the school's/the Lutheran's hand, and Dorling was there teaching Friday, gone Tuesday, June long weekend 2002...finally but suddenly...
Anyhoos, that was my Friday shot-to-shizzle right there, and a coupla' days recovering...all the anger and trauma and suffering of parents/families, etc, etc, all dredged-up and spewed onto the surface thanks to an orgy of sanctimonious self-congratulation and deliberate deceit...please note that, whilst I have inevitably grown deeply cynical of the ABC and the 'CPS' in any and all of their manifestations, I still recognise that there are many relatively decent people involved who are motivated and try to operate appropriately, etc, etc...but this forum/interview is exactly as I have described it, deceit upon deceit...but I digress, to the original post bit...***
Howdy y'all to an entirely 'fresh' post, in so much as it ain't some part-finished, half-baked, bit-of-a-post from months ago, clumsily and foppishly pounded into some vaguely presentable format, then shoved crudely onto a largely unexpecting Universe, it's completely new material...(yeah, sure-Ed)...that's probably gunna' sound a bit like a lot of previous material...(that sounds more like it-Ed)...because that's how we all roll here at TMGI...(well true, except, it's not 'we' is it? 'cos I'm a confected literary device, not an actual 'sue-able' person-Ed)...well yes, of course, except for that...
Prematurely Self-Ejected:...because at the latest Mt Gambier City Council full meeting, Tuesday 21st February, awash in a sea of the latest wave of rank corruption as led by Councillor and former Mayor Steve Perryman, I just couldn't stomach it, it was too much for even stoic ol' idiot me, and when Stevo mate...(maaate-Ed)...presumptively asked for extra time to speak and kept right on talking, I got-up, walked-out, and listened to the last bit from the foyer...(wow-Ed)...and as per usual, Council's own Minutes fail to correctly report what actually happened, and The Border Watch similarly...(I thought you said this was gunna' be all new material, it's just there, you wrote it just there!-Ed)...and indeed it sounds like every other post about MGCC, it's conduct, and how that is 'reported' in the Mt Gambier media...(ah right sorry, I see what you mean, you were being ironic and/or sarcastic-Ed)...indeed...
Emotions With Some Notice:...(and tell me, did your departure go unnoticed?-Ed)...well I didn't say anything or whatevs, but I'm fairly sure it was noticed, I was like fully leaving dude but stopped in the foyer, realising I was gunna' miss Stevo's inspirational words re his $1,000,000 'Motion Without Notice'...(sorry what?! $1,000,000 in a 'Motion Without Notice?-Ed)...oh yeah, I'll be getting to that...anyhoos, re dropping $1m to the District Council of Grant, with no strings attached, re the latest debasco re the Mt Gambier Airport re proposed expansion...or not...('or not'? what do you mean 'or not'?-Ed)...well, as per usual, almost all parties involved are pointedly preaching about the specific merits of their personal/professional/political position, and why whatevs is going wrong and/or not happening at all, well it's all the fault of that guy there...(what, this guy?-Ed)...no no, that one...(him?-Ed)...yeah, and her, and they're all doing it too...
And then there's my poor li'l ol' brain stuck in the middle with you, dear availee, tryin' to sort the shizzle from the even bigger shizzle...(it's like looking for a small pile of shizzle in a large pile of shizzle-Ed)...no, what it is is, it's exactly like sorting through a combined avalanche of shizzle, in search of a truth that may well not exist...but the issue is irrelevant in context of how it was broached, presented, and then voted on...(yeah, I didn't see any 'MWN' in the MGCC meeting Agenda-Ed)...that's because it's not there, and that's part of why I say the issue is irrelevant because it's the way it's been done that is super-shonky, and that shonkiness itself is the main issue...(and the repetitiveness of the shonkiness, the perpetual shonkifications of the Mt Gambier City Council, I'd argue that right there's the main main issue-Ed)...indeed...
This is only the latest in a series of deeply questionable and concerning issues in recent months, to be covered next post, but here's a teaser...MGCC awarded a contract whilst crowing that their choice was '$1,000,000 less than the other Tenders so we've saved Ratepayers $1m', only for that business to go bust, owing $$$millions, but not a squeak from Council in it's recent meetings...(so hang on, at the very least, that's another $1m that Ratepayers need to stump up for that supposedly urgent project-Ed)...indeed...(but on the ABC, didn't Mayor Lee wave it all away as unimportant and having no impact on Council's budget?-Ed)...indeed he did...but we digress...
Slow-Motion Snow-Job Without Notice:...when Cr Steve Perryman stood up at 1835hrs on 02/21/2017 and proposed that Mt Gambier City Council effectively 'give' the District Council of Grant $1,000,000 re Mt Gambier Airport...he stated that this was in support of the DCG application for funding under the (federal) Building Better Regions Fund*, and spoke of 'phonecalls and emails to and/or between Councillors and/or others across the weekend', but didn't specify to whom exactly, and several Councillors appeared not aware of this 'Motion' at all...as Stevo started, Councillors were passing paperwork around the room...he actually said 'I've spoken to someone who knows all about this stuff and they say it's a great idea', but again, didn't provide any name, credentials, or actual document/letter/whatevs, not nuthin'...(yeah, but if Stevo says it's true-Ed)...my point exactly...
(*I believe the BBRF is the same fund that MGCC were referring to when they made their bizarre announcement about the '$20m Regional Recreation Centre that may or may not include a 25m indoor pool' thingy...(oh yeah, I'd forgotten about that, that's what, 2 years ago now?-Ed)...yep, January/February 2015...(and wasn't it re the National Stronger Regions Fund, not the BBRF?-Ed)...how do you remember all that?...(I didn't exactly, I just 'Googled' it and, bingo, up came a post from this 'ere blog with a copy of how it was reported in TBW attached, etc, as per TMGI February 12th 2015-Ed)...well I'll be...(I know!-Ed)...and?...(and apparently the BBRF is basically just the follow-on re-badging of the NSRF-Ed)...super!...*)
(So anyhoos, Stevo's come in, at the last minute, too late to get on the Agenda apparently, but having been discussing it for days outside official channels, apparently, and presents Councillors with a 'Motion Without Notice' that several of them appear to be just receiving as he's speaking to it?-Ed)...yep...(that gives the DCG $1,000,000 with no conditions attached-Ed)...that was the original proposal, yeah...($1m? and some Councillors were just receiving that 'MWN' in the meeting?-Ed)...that's what it looked like...(wow-Ed)...and through-out, particularly in his closing diatribe, Stevo mate...(maaate-Ed)...listed-off all the things wrong with this whole set-up, and in a manner designed to address but drastically minimalise the problems, a manner that defines the practicedly-corrupt nature of his every functioning...
One by one Stevo went through these things in the same way, 'yeah sure it would be good if we had received this earlier', 'yeah sure it would be good if we had more time to consider it', etc, etc, and then the directive manipulation of 'I'll leave it to Councillors to decide whether the benefits outweigh these minor issues'...and so on...and it was all a little convenient for my liking because it rapidly turned into a stoogefest of confected indignation and rehearsed faux-opposition from several specific Councillors, in what appeared to be a carefully orchestrated opportunity for said stooges to try and establish some sort of 'independent credibility' where none exists nor ever will...(kapow! take that stoogey types!-Ed)...whatevs, the way this was introduced and pushed by Cr Stevo is all wrong, so very, very wrong...( a million bucks wrong!-Ed)...yeah, it's truly extraordinary that MGCC handles such huge sums of Ratepayers' monies with such casual incompetence...(gay abandon even already-Ed)...whether that incompetence is real or affected to hide the institutionalised corruption at the core of Mt Gambier City Council's functioning...whatevs...
Labor Minister Leon Bignell was on the South East ABC yesterday spruiking the Labor government's latest $1m contribution to DCG/the airport, in what is just the latest in a series of cheaper-the-better stunts from Labor as we lumber toward the next South Oz state election in March 2018...Steven Marshall/the Liberals have been advertising for months already, and there isn't a sanctimoniously hypocritical stunt that SA Labor haven't pulled, rushing to chuck chump-change at whatevs might give them a purchase on the moral high-ground, starting late last year and pork-barrelling along ever since...and all the good stuff, Aboriginal Rights, Gay Rights, Legalising Medical Marijuana, etc, etc, it's a cynically manipulative joke aimed squarely at critical inner-Adelaide seats...and now, on the actual very last day of the BBRF Application round, it's another pitiful $1m dribbled-out...whatevs the issue, it's a contemptuously pathetic $1m pat-on-the-head that doubles nicely as a spit-in-the-face...
This morning it was federal Liberal Member for Barker, Tony Pasin, basically contradicting and/or correcting what Neon Leon was gibbering about, and I can only apologise that try as I might I still lost track of exactly what money has or hasn't gone where exactly, but here goes...most of the money ($3.8m?) already promised by SA Labor to DCG re the airport is money tied to the $28m Forestry Sale Fund that Labor promised after corruptly flogging-off the South East Forestry Estate for only $670m, under 1/3 it's value, and then calling it a 'lease', etc, to build the ridiculous Adelaide Oval, etc, etc, etc...I understand that that claim is ostensibly true, that is where that original money has come from...there was also further discussion re Labor's refusal/failure to support/fund the Penola Bypass, but that's not for here today in this post...and I don't thank Neon for placing me in the very unpleasant position of having to agree with the vast majority of what Tony was saying...
I don't know who exactly has and/or hasn't contacted whoevs, or whether serial Liberal candidate and Wattle Range Mayor Peter Gandolfi's version of events is true, or Leon's or Tony's, whatevs, but it's all just political squabbling/slandering that doesn't change the realities as they currently exist...it appears that DC of Grant haven't organised a proper 'Funding Partnership', not with anyone, despite discussing this for months apparently, and then have waited until literally the last minute to lob this on MGCC Ratepayers, apparently 1645hrs on the Monday before the MGCC meeting the next evening, with the Labor state government doubling-down on that stunt by waiting until the last day for BBRF Applications' before flicking another $1m chump-change into the political gutter in a crass attack on the Liberal Party...and there's a distinctly conspiratorial stink to the seemingly synchronized timing of these various airport funding issues...disgraceful...
Noticed By Not Mentioning:...not even mentioned let-alone discussed, at MGCC's February 21st 2017 meeting were, 1) the Mayor Lee/Chinese Business Partner/ICAC debasco (debacle/fiasco), as per recent posts, or, 2) the China trip that appears to be going ahead despite this rank Mayoral corruption/dodgy China-dealings business, or 3) the aforementioned $1m blow-out on that Asbestos-related Tender...(hang on, if Council reported Lee to ICAC, as bizarrely discussed in that MGCC Special Meeting January 31st 2017, and then equally bizarrely reported by TBW, if that 'report' has happened, how can Lee be in the Chair there for that meeting'?-Ed)...you tell me...(and MGCC clearly have no choice but to make that report because that's exactly what the Independent Commission Against Corruption Act 2012 states must happen...must-Ed)...yeah yeah, I know...and they're also certainly not allowed to have a meeting and discuss it...(which is exactly what they did!-Ed)...exactly...(geez, no wonder you get headaches sometimes-Ed)...orrr, I like to think I cause a few too...(nice-Ed)...
(Mayor Andy did mention January 31st, but only re the visit of SA Governor Mr Van Le on that date-Ed)...indeed, and something about a 'new Chinese Ambassador in Adelaide', but not a breath about the Winery/ICAC stuff and/or the MGCC Council trip to China...even the official remonstration of Cr Josh Lynagh lasted as long as it took for him to identify a 'Conflict of Interest', 'because it's about me', leave, for Council to vote for 'it as presented' but without any discussion, and for Cr J to return...2 minutes tops...all of MGCC's actual business, including this official reprimand, lasted just on 30 minutes, but Stevo's 'MWN' took nearly another 30!...absolutely disgraceful...
Tomorrow: Just More Stuff
(Moooooore?-Ed)...just...
No attempt at a witty closing today, but I am still Nick Fletcher and this is still my blog...cheers and laters...
***...and back to today, and there's no such thing as Climate Change either, here's a photo to prove it...(nice flower, what is it?-Ed)...that my friend, is ginger...(ginger? flowering in Mt Gambier?-Ed)...yep, lovely tropical fragrance as well...(ginger, in February/March, in Mt Gambier?-Ed)...yep, someone gave me several clumps/roots/tubers/whatevs probably 6 years ago, and they quickly (1 year?) came up in bamboo-like stems about 1m high that unfurl into large leaves, and now this...(it is a beautiful flower-Ed)...yep, no such thing as 'Climate Change'...***
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