Howdy y'all, welcome to TMGI...please to be checkin' out the Mt Gambier City Council's latest deeply deceitful diatribe of weasel-worded word salad about the Aquifer Cafe and Tours site by goin' to the ABC South East Radio webpage and then to 'Episodes' for Thursday 21st January 2021, at the 3hr17min mark, link attached below...(and as the title suggests, the actual interview is about Mt Gambier City Council's supposed 'Activation Plan' for the Crater Lakes Precinct, but they very carefully avoid mentioning the single most important issue/facility/tourism service, the currently closed Aquifer Cafe/Tours-Ed)...and 'cos the last ABC SER recording I directed y'all to has since 'expired' and is no longer available, I've put myself through the stop-start, 3-fingered typing nightmare of transcribing the entire but thankfully short interview here...only took me two hours of going over and over the interview, like it wasn't grating and frustrating enough the first time through, such joy...
https://www.abc.net.au/radio/southeastsa/programs/breakfast/breakfast/13059520
Selina Green- Well have you got some ideas about how the Crater Lakes could be improved? Perhaps what the space needs to be better utilised? Well the Mt Gambier City Council is hoping to receive a grant to help it develop a Crater Lakes Precinct Plan. We talk about the Crater Lakes we mean the area around the Blue Lake, the Valley Lake, and the Leg of Mutton lake. Well the state government is now receiving applications for it's Open Space and Places for People program, and the Council has resolved to submit an application for a grant under that scheme. The Council's Acting CEO Barbara Cernovskis says if successful that funding will be used to help develop a stand alone Master Plan for the Crater Lakes Precinct. She explained to our reporter Todd Lewis more about how that is going to work.
Barbara Cernovskis- That's aligning very much with Council's strategic direction with being able to activate that space and have a look at how we can do that around the Valley Lakes Precinct and around the Blue Lake in a manner that's not going to be compromising the integrity of the area, but being able to give us as a community more opportunity to be able to recreate in the space, but also to be able to maximise any tourism opportunities that could come out of that also.
Todd Lewis- This has been talked about for a little while now, is the funding critical to see the plan move forward?
BC- Well plans like this can be costly, so the opportunity to be able to leverage some grant funding along with our own funding to be able to have this come to fruition is an opportunity that the Members are keen to see happen.
TL- What will be the focuses of the application you put forward?
BC- So it's really about the cultural implications. The Crater Lakes area is of significant cultural value to the Boandik people. The Mt Gambier
volcanic complex is gazetted, it's a state heritage area, so it's
really being able to incorporate activities, and that can
be developed that include our First Nations people as well, as well as the improved recreation and whether there could be a
level of commercial activity there, but once again all of that
would still need to be in the context of not
compromising the natural integrity of the site, in order to achieve those activation
outcomes.
TL- What have the elected Members expressed in that sense ? What are their main desires for this plan, I'd imagine they'd probably be in that same boat of not wanting to ruin the total am(e)nity of the area? -
BC- Yeah, and that's exactly what the Members are thinking. So it's not about commercialising in a commercial sense, it's really about being able to activate, which there may be a commercial element, and whatever is done is done in a manner that doesn't compromise, as I said before, the natural integrity of the site, being able to capture the cultural stories and experiences associated with that site, and being able to include the stories and the experiences and our First Nations and Boandik heritage in that area as well.
TL- Has there been an even bigger priority placed on this plan since the recent push for regional travel in light of COVID?-
BC- I think that's put the spotlight on to it, however Council has been really keen to do something in this space for a long while, and the opportunity has presented now for us to be able to put the energy and the resources behind taking that next step, to be able to think carefully what is it going to look like and how can we plan the activation strategy with that site.
The End...so there's ya' go, absolute nonsense...(well indeed, that is a mind-numbing cavalcade of deliberately non-specific bureaucratic jingoism-Ed)...it is isn't it...(umm, by '"activation strategy", is that referring to tourism?-Ed)...urrr, I think that's part of it, Barbara repeatedly mentions 'tourism', and certainly tourism is a big part of any discussion about the Crater Lakes, I mean, the Blue Lake is an iconic tourism destination/experience...(well the Aquifer Tour certainly was an 'experience', until Council evicted the business operators, Trish and Gary Turner-Ed)...well quite, yes...(ya' know, one could be forgiven for thinking that Barbara has been taking obsequious obfuscation lessons from career tourism non-achiever Biddie (Tietz) Shearing-Ed)...ahhh Biddie, good call, she's a classic, being inexplicably appointed to one critical Tourism position after another, having achieved absolutely zilch in any of them...(and regularly being interviewed on the ABC SER about her/their latest plan to have a plan, it's almost like her 'career' is a template for this interview-Ed)...well, I think there's a broad template for these people to follow, to be able to speak volumes without actually straying near a definable fact and/or truth, it's a sortta' Perpetual Plausible Deniability Text, say heaps but nothing that you can actually be held to account for...
Language Warning:...so there ya' fuckin' go, for all the fuckin' damage MGCC have done to Tourism with their fuckin' lies and mismanagement, and there's still absolutely no fuckin' plan...(well that's not strictly true, is it?-Ed)...fuckin' what?!...(well Council has a whole series of plans mate-Ed)...mate, this had better be fuckin' good 'cos I'm absolutely dead-set ready to go completely postal worker on Council's sorry arses...(so you mean to be viciously attacked and sacked by Prime Minister Scott 'Scumo' Morrison, only to be completely exonerated by an independent report that Scummo then tries to hide? like that?-Ed)...what the ffff?!!!...(like what happened to former Australia Post CEO Christine Holgate-Ed)...oh right, well sure, Ms Holgate's sacking was a deeply misogynistic attempt to distract away from Scummo's various other acts of gross incompetence and moronic bastardry, and he has tried to hide that report, which, as you identify, has exonerated Ms Holgate of all supposed 'Charges'...fair call...however, I was referring to the context where-in postal workers are often joked about as being the sort of disgruntled workers who express their displeasure by shootin' the place up...(ah right-Ed)...so whilst I'm obviously talking about 'going postal' in a blogging sense, ie, shootin' my mouth off with a barrage of angry words, etc, I am very genuinely a blogger on the edge!...(nah nah, I get that-Ed)...you were saying, a series of plans?...
***If y'all want to read more about the Holgate/Australia Post bastardry from Scummo et al, Twitter champ Ronni Salt does an absolutely excellent thread at this link, https://twitter.com/RonniSalt/status/1325347050989314052***
(Yeah, Council clearly has a series of plans-Ed)...where?...(well, we've previously identified that, despite everything that Council has said about their disastrous decision to evict the Turners from both their Aquifer Cafe and Tours businesses, that Council's first plan is/was to destroy the Turner's businesses-Ed)...well that's a great call Ed...(and Plan 2 is part of that, namely, to vacate the Cafe site for someone else to use-Ed)...indeed, and I'll add that in that context, it's a 3-way plan, in so much as it is/was about destroying the Turner's businesses as an act of vindictive personal retribution...(spot on, and from there, and as literally everyone is identifying on 'social media', Council clearly has a 'plan' to hand those businesses to a Councillor's relative/mate/whatevs-Ed)...in what many people are also identifying as a direct replay of the bastardry that the Queen Elizabeth Park Trust and Council subjected proprietor/leasee Bill Burley to in trying to kick him out of the Blue Lakes Golf Links site...(yes, as with the Aquifer Cafe/Tours, people were saying that Council planned to install a relative/mate at the BLGL-Ed)...exactly...I refer dear availees to TMGI's recent posts on the Aquifer Cafe/Tours issue, where-in we've clearly identified that it's just another example of the deeply and rancidly corrupt MGCC doing exactly as pleases and/or serves themselves, and fuck Ratepayers and responsible and highly respected business leaders like Mr Burley and the Turners...
ABC South East Radio Is Corruptly Compromised:...in a massive way, if not completely...I have genuine respect for Todd Lewis as a journo, having dealt with him several times regarding my "bizarre trial" (a quote from his reportage in The Border Watch)...in that context, there's no doubt in my mind that either 1) he was specifically told to not ask about the Aquifer Cafe/Tours and what was happening there, etc, and, 2) to not raise the obvious issue, even politely, that it's farcical mismanagement that in 2021 MGCC doesn't have a 'Master Plan'...(or allegedly/apparently any plan-Ed)..indeed, no 'plan' for the Crater Lakes Precinct...(how many shreckin' times have we heard in the past about exactly this 'strategy' to have a 'plan', etc, etc, and yet here we are!-Ed)...yeah I know, there was gunna' be a ski-lift to Centenary Tower, and a zip-line across Valley Lake, and a hotel overlooking the Blue Lake, and a shop in the Valley Lake, etc, etc...anyhoos, the fact that neither issue was raised means either 1) Todd chose not to, or far more likely 2) he was told not to...(or 3, he did ask but it was removed from the interview-Ed)...sure, that's possible...And in one sentence, let me explain/quantify just how corruptly compromised the ABC SER is...Sandra Morello is the Chief of Staff...(oh sweet baby cheeses, enough said-Ed)...I hardly think so...(what would you think if I said I thought you'd hardly think so?-Ed)...don't start that...for those dear availees unfamiliar with Sandra's work, she is notorious for her deeply corrupt political reporting with The Border Watch, most spectacularly when she was caught-out just prior to the 2010 SA State Election, publishing verbatim press releases for candidate Don Pegler, in TBW, but under her byline as actual articles...(don't stop there-Ed)...press releases that had been written by her husband Frank Morello, former TBW Editor and now Mt Gambier City Councillor...(ah ah, use his real name please-Ed)...alright, Frank 'The Jellyfish That Grew A Spine And Roared Like A Mouse From It's Ivory Tower' Morello...and Frank gets that moniker 'cos he dead-set soils himself when we cross paths in public, but in MGCC Meetings he's all piss and vinegar and swingin' around and having a go at me, etc...(and of course the time in September 2017 when he ambushed you outside a meeting, made vacuous 'defamation threats', abused and denigrated you, etc, and then scurried back into the Chamber leaving others (Mark Lovett, Mark McShane, Nick Serle) to threaten and abuse you some more-Ed)...yeah he's all class Frank is...
Sandra Morello Is A Third-Rate, C-Grade Pseudo-Journalist:...and the fact that she has been appointed to COS for the ABC SER is a text-book illustration of 1) how corrupted the ABC is, and 2) how the 'Mates Network' operates in Mt Gambier, making sure that complicit stooges and corrupted collaborators and mates and relatives get these plum positions/contracts, and actual talent and actual merit and actual appropriateness ain't got SFA to do with it...(sorry, are we talking about Biddie again?-Ed)...well quite Ed, one would be forgiven for thinking that, 'cos it's exactly the same thing we're talking about...I'd be more than happy to sit down with Biddie and have her provide me any actual evidence that she has ever actually achieved anything in her multiple Tourism 'appointments'...(ain't gunna' happen mate...and wasn't she on MGCC for a stint?-Ed)...oh yeah, and a frequent mentionee in this 'ere blog for her many and varied complicit efforts re dodgy Council tenders and contracts, etc...and we can talk about what happened in her first tourism job with Robe Council and how/why that all went so horribly pear-shaped...but like you say mate, ain't gunna' happen...
But what about these plans of what you speak, about...(well, apart from the Evict/Destroy/Punish Plans, several alleged plans are specifically identified in the interview transcribed above-Ed)...and of course in previous reportage Council has quite specifically stated that they have a 'strategy/plan' for the Crater Lakes...(you sure that wasn't an announcement about planning to have a strategy?-Ed)...good point mate, no I'm not...(or a strategy to have a plan?-Ed)...welll...(or a plan to have a plan, or a...-Ed)...okay, thankyou, we get the picture...('cos that's exactly what they're doin' here, again-Ed)...yeah, I get what ya' sayin', and it's de rigueur for Council to make such announcements and not follow through, and/or misrepresent about the status of some 'plan/strategy', etc, etc, and it's what I was referring to before about Biddie and a career spent announcing her/'their' plan to have a plan...but where are the plans in the above interview? I don't see anything there...(well it's the same stuff again isn't it, Council has a strategy that involves planning to apply for a grant that will supposedly facilitate them being able to formulate an actual 'Master Plan'-Ed)...ahhh, they have a plan to seek funding so's they can have a plan, that relates to their broader 'strategy', whatevs that actually is...(exactly, they have a plan to have a plan-Ed)...clear as mud...
Master Plan Debates:...will undoubtedly involved copious long-worded reports and a raft of reviews and long-winded debates, no doubt to be held in multiple secret 'Commercial In-Confidence Meetings'...(didn't MGCC have something like 50 'Confidential Meetings' last year alone?-Ed)...or through the 2019/20 financial year, yeah, there was a report about that in The Border Watch, but I'd have to go back and re-read it all, it covered all local Councils...(is it worth a post all it's own?-Ed)...yes it is Ed, yes it is, try to remember and we'll get onto it asap...but with this Precinct Master Plan, it's another prime opportunity for Council to bury themselves in a blizzard of bureaucratic red-tape...(and let's not forget that Council's vast efforts in preparing plans and doing 'consultation', etc, etc, for the FARC, was actually a carefully deceitful manipulation of Ratepayers to get them/us to vote for a $39m FARC that Council already knew was gunna' cost at least 50% more than that-Ed)...and then Council tried to justify/refute that deceit and manipulation by saying that the original Ratepayer vote was only ever about accepting the funding, not about the actual cost of the project, etc, etc, yeah, we haven't forgotten...
And only MGCC could make something that doesn't actually exist, be proof of the lie about something that they've said exists but doesn't, whilst lying about the initial lie...(whaaa?-Ed)...well Council have previously stated that the Turner's eviction was 'unavoidable', itself a lie, but then stated that Council are after the Tours lease as well as the Cafe site lease, so they clearly have a 'plan' to operate those tours or a version there-of using that access lease...(fair point-Ed)...and as above, we've already listed several of the ludicrous ideas that Council has already tabled/floated when it comes to 'activating with some commercialism' the Crater Lakes area...(not forgetting that the main financial driver/support for any business in that precinct is Tourism-Ed)...yes it is...(and that Tourism is very much a seasonal prospect, with the vast bulk of visitors around across the Summer/Xmas/School holiday period-Ed)...absolutely, as would be known to anyone who had the faintest idea about that...(or had bothered to ask the only permanent businesses operators in the Lakes Precinct what their experience was-Ed)...being the Turners...(who, across 30 years of successfully running said businesses, could tell Council that for long periods, especially through Winter, there are very few if any tourists in town-Ed)...and therefore any 'commercialisation', eg, a ski-lift or a shop, whatevs, would have to be able to function at a loss for most of the year...(or not function at all thus reducing costs, etc-Ed)...or not at all, but then be able to cater for the sudden and massive influx across Xmas/New Years, etc...
(And where's the money coming from for all of this 'Planned Activation Commercialisation'? Council apparently can't even afford their own Master Plan', and has to seek a grant just to come-up with that!-Ed)...and not forgetting the giant white elephant that leaves no room for anything else, ever...(the unfathomably expensive Farcical Aquatic Recreation Centre?-Ed)..yes, the $39million, sorry nope $57m, sorry $64m, FARC that everyone is convinced will continue to 'blow-out' by many $$$millions...(yep, and Council has sunk Ratepayers into said unfathomable quagmire of ever-escalating debt without any clear plan as to how to pay-off the $35m-$40m (plus???) that they've borrowed already-Ed)...having strictly ruled-out any rate increases...(which everyone thinks is an abject lie-Ed)...well of course it is, Member for Barker Tony Pasin himself said that that's exactly how Council was going to fund the running costs of the FARC, rate rises...(yeah, but that's just the 'running costs', what about repaying the massive loan/s?-Ed)...indeed, that's yet another MGCC weasel-word deceit where-in they very carefully tried to separate 'Construction Costs' from actual 'Running Costs' when talking about rate increases, albeit every word of it was still a lie...
So there you have it, an interview about 'activating the Crater Lakes', and not one mention of the dual absurdities of 1) evicting the incumbent, successful, and only permanent Aquifer Cafe/Tour businesses, and 2) lying about it, and then the equally farcical 'we have a plan to have a plan'...(and nothing about costing any 'commercialisation', etc-Ed)...yep, it's 100% vacuous vagaries about potential possibilities, without a single actual 'activatable fact'...(and how long before any grant application will get approved-Ed)...well according to this, as of last Thursday 21st January 2021, Council hasn't actually even applied yet...(oh it just gets better and better-Ed)...don't it though...
Just one last point, where Barbara says "the opportunity has presented now", that's weasel-words for distracting away from and/or denying that this "opportunity" was created by Council by them evicting the Turners...
Tomorrow: That Post About Council's 'Unreasonable Conduct' Fascism
Yes, promised it last time, again, but we will get there, just thought this stuff was important enough to take priority...
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers and laters...oh, End Language Warning...
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