And it's all fairly straight forward, and follows-on from our previous post about Liberal Member for Barker Tony Pasin's blatant Threat-Bribe of 'accept $15m for this project or you get nothing' re the '$40m Recreation Hub', and Mt Gambier City Council's rabid assault on Ratepayers as they (MGCC) rampantly ram the project down Ratepayer's throats...(and using Ratepayer's rate-money to do it with-Ed)...indeed, as we've frequently covered previously, every cent that passes through MGCC, no matter how they come to be in receipt of those monies, be it Rates, grants, borrowings, whatevs, every single cent of it is Ratepayer's money, not as Council treats it, their personal piggy-bank to be pilfered and poured into each other's rankly corrupt pockets...(and they do-Ed)...indeed they do Ed, how many times have we sat silently in the Public Gallery and witnessed those rabidly corrupt clowns hand each other Ratepayer's money?...(quite literally dozens of times-Ed)...indeed, dozens...(but not recently because of course you're 'banned' from attending any MGCC meetings and/or any 'Civic Function' where a certain rankly corrupt MGC Councillor might attend-Ed)...well quite, as a result of the "reprehensibly vile" Final Intervention Orders put in place by the rankly corrupt Magistrate Ian White...and again, I can say "reprehensibly vile" and "rankly corrupt Magistrate" because I can thoroughly prove that in any legal forum...
There have been literally dozens of letters in The Border Watch newspaper about the 'Recreation Hub', and MGCC CEO Mark 'Mighty Marky Mark McShenanigans' McShane has repeatedly been on ABC South East Radio relentlessly deceiving listeners with a series of increasingly hyperbolic bollocks...(what was it last week?-Ed)...last Saturday 8th December it was about how this 'Hub' would directly motivate people to move to Mt Gambier...(bollocks-Ed)...oh it gets better, and it would 'stop Mt Gambier's youth leaving the town'...(absolute bollocks, people of all ages, but particularly many of our 'youth' leave because they have to if they want to pursue higher education options and/or career opportunities, etc-Ed)...absolutely, it's a fundamental given, as covered in a separate discussion about dumping immigrants into Regional communities and saying that that will help all concerned, namely, it is far easier to move people to existing jobs than move jobs to where the people are...(so obvious, so true-Ed)...indeed, but that didn't stop Marky Mark barking madly up that completely wrong tree...(and don't forget all his stuff about how you hate Mt Gambier if you vote against this-Ed)...indeed, all the usual manipulation and thinly-veiled abuse about being bad citizens who want Mt Gambier to fail, etc...
But Mighty McShenanigans really brought it home this time with his extraordinary concluding observation that 'Mt Gambier "will die" if you don't vote for this'...(wow, there's nothing like hyperbolic hyperbole to really take one's breath away-Ed)...yep, said it a coupla' times, "will die"...(and what was it a coupla' weeks before that?-Ed)...ummm, that time it was about how this was designed to address Mt Gambier's alarming rates of Heart Disease and related health issues, but also with the 'if you vote no you hate Mt Gambier' stuff...(so from 'you hate Mt Gambier and want people to die', to 'you hate Mt Gambier and want the entire town to die'-Ed)...yep, there's no bridge too far for McShenanigans when it comes to ramping-up the abusive vitriole about being 'Bad Citizens' and what community ailments this 'Hub' won't cure...(and all washed down with a lovely glass of lies about how this won't affect Rates-Ed)...well virtually nobody outside of Council believes that, it's a farcical non-reality...even if everything runs to optimum capacity/usage and nothing goes wrong and there's no cost blow-outs, etc, etc, it means that every cent of Council's income will go toward running the 'Hub', with literally nothing left for anything else...(well except for MGCC's rankly corrupt, bloated, top-heavy bureaucracy of wholly unjustifiable $200,000pa 'Managers' and assorted other highly paid stooges-Ed)...indeed, basic City Maintenance is not getting done, etc, and Council itself voted to reduce Councillor numbers from 10 to 8 so as to save money...I was there and that was the sole reasoning...
And plenty of high-profile locals are calling for a 'No' vote, often in TBW, clearly identifying the way that MGCC has railroaded the debate from a simple, relatively cheap 'Covered Pool' proposal to this vast '$40m Hub', and then installed it's own selection of supporters as part of the 'Community Consultation Group', and the issues with Council's disastrous mis-handling of other projects with resultant massive cost blow-outs, eg, the %100+ blow-outs on the Library and Main Corner projects...(well it's just a farcical non-reality to make allowance for an "8% contingency" when previous projects have blown-out by more than %100-Ed)...indeed...(and look at the Rail Lands fiasco, albeit that's a definably deliberate debasco (debacle meets fiasco) motivated by MGCC's desire to expand the Centro shopping centre onto that site-Ed)...well quite, but the motivation is almost irrelevant in the context of the reality...MGCC promised a Covered Plaza and a massive Sound Shell, neither have happened, and of course, the iconic Old Rail Station remains an embarrassingly un-renovated blight on the landscape...
And with that well identified history of Gross Incompetence and the related rank Nepotism and Insider Trading, etc, all that traditional MGCC corruption...(and with the as yet unfunded $25m portion of the basic cost-Ed)...yep, all of that, and even if we get that as-yet not-even-promised $15m from the State Government to match the supposed 'promise' of $15m from the Federal government, it's still $10m Ratepayers will be paying-off, etc, etc...(and with the high likelihood that the project will blow-out by many $$$millions beyond $40m-Ed)...indeed, every cent of which Ratepayers will be burdened with, etc, etc...with all of that quite literally 'up in the air', it is just fundamentally bizarre that MGCC is so hell-bent on ramming this through without any actual secured funding...and that leads nicely to the attached TBW article by Graham Greenwood...regular availees will be well aware that we here at TMGI have intermittently 'hung shizzle' on GG about various things, but he has had several fairly sound goes at the unpleasant realities of this proposed 'Hub'...(and has been duly vilified and mocked by MGCC for his troubles-Ed)...indeed...
It is a basic measure of the debate that those opposed have been very respectful, measured and factual in expressing their concerns, and in response have been openly and repeatedly denigrated and mocked and abused...(and as you say, not least of all, directly by MGCC-Ed)...absolutely...and it's another farcical part of the debate that MGCC have openly stated their unwavering support for the 'Hub' and repeatedly put letters in TBW, etc, but then try to somehow quantify and distance themselves from that support by saying 'this is my personal opinion, not that of Council'...(but they're Councillors supporting what Council en masse openly supports anyway-Ed)...I know, I know, it's just a sad joke...anyhoos, here's GG's latest effort, and unless he's straight-out lying, there's a lot of concern here to be sure...(well he's not the only person to be expressing these exact same concerns, they've been circulating in the community prior to this article being published-Ed)...well quite, along with all the stuff about the unavoidable Rate rises that MGCC say won't happen, etc...so here 'tis...
...and imagine my surprise that MGCC CEO Mark McShane had a letter in yesterday's TBW furiously refuting this, thusly...
...(pah! this vast and costly raft of supposedly "independent and objective specialists" are employed by MGCC and clearly have no experience of MGCC's gross incompetence if they only allow 8% "contingency"-Ed)...indeed...it was my concern that GG was setting-up the debate for MGCC to then address and swat-away genuine concerns, as has sort of happened here, but the fundamental premise of the original article remains...(along with the many other concerns raised in GG's previous articles and the many letters to TBW, particularly about the deeply problematic 'consultation' process and MGCC's crass vilification of anyone who dares to question and/or oppose-Ed)...yep, all that stuff...people are particularly concerned about the small fortune of their money, of Ratepayer's money, that MGCC have splurged on pursuing/promoting this project, eg, employing architects/accountants/consultants/whatevs, and big colourful banners all over town, and lengthy 'fly-through' animations, and copious media advertising, especially on TV, and multiple info sessions, including renting a shopfront in The Main and staffing it with $200kpa 'Managers' and/or other Council staff, and etc, and etc, and etc...(and every cent of it Ratepayer's-Ed)...absolutely, every bloody cent...(and the crowning glory, this farcical Postal Vote-Ed)...indeed...
In conclusion, this whole 'Hub' is a deluded and very dangerous Nepotistic Rort looking for somewhere to happen...I have no faith that this farcical Postal Vote will deliver anything other than exactly what Council has paid a fortune for, exactly what they want...(a 'Yes' vote come what may, and regardless of what people actually want?-Ed)...absolutely...even this Postal Vote process is a carefully designed manipulation, where-in the 'majority' vote is only relative to the returned Votes, ie, if only 30% of the 19,000 people respond, only 15% + one need to reply 'Yes' and that's 'Community Support' for this process...(in a context where a non-response is effectively a 'No' vote, because if people can't be bothered responding then clearly they ain't that interested-Ed)...absolutely...beyond that, I'm looking at a raft of rankly corrupt people who can't wait to get their snouts into a $40m+ trough, so I'll be voting 'No' and encourage others to do so, but I have absolutely no faith in any part of this process, let-alone this farcically unaccountable Postal Vote...
Don't believe the lies, there will be further Funding Applications/Rounds, we do not need to vote 'Yes' right now for this ludicrously over-priced and appallingly poorly planned piece of massive infrastructure that will cost Mt Gambier literally for generations...
Tomorrow: The Ship Must Be Sinking, All The Rats Are Getting Off
I am of course referring to the raft of political resignations/retirements, particularly that of Jay Weatherill, li'l Johnny Rau, and my mate Mark McShane...I'm sure it's not just about their regular appearances here on TMGI, but I'd very much like to believe that we're in the mix somewhere...(even if it's just a li'l bit-Ed)...indeed, just a bit...(that'd be fine-Ed)...that'd be just fine...
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...(this new secondhand monitor is really very wide, it's freakin' me out a bit-Ed)...hang in there big fella', you'll get used to it...cheers and laters y'all...
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