Another Perspective On The Evils Of Murdoch Media

Howdy dear availees...woweee, another whole week gone peyuhhhh, shot through like a rat out of an aqueduct...read this person's Twitter thread on her employment with Murdoch Media and thought it was worth sharing...by ways of a sortta' disclaimer, I don't know who this person is, but as per her Twitter feed her name is 'Jenni', and I've seen a bit of her stuff on Twitter over recent months...following the clues provided, I've checked by Interweb searching 'Jennine Journalist The Australian' and that confirms that a 'Jennine Khalik' is/was a journo there...on the same search menu page it has her Twitter account...I believe this confirms her bona fides as a (former?) Murdoch journo, and apparently also with the ABC and Crikey...I've included below the links to her Twitter account and this particular thread re Murdoch, should you wish to peruse the 'Comments', etc, and a slimmed-down copy of the thread...Ms Khalik has been very prominent in the actions/debate re Israeli funding of the upcoming Sydney Festival...

Like many people, I am appalled by the conduct of Israel relative to Palestine, particularly the seizure of land and displacement of Palestinians, and believe that the Murdoch Media is a moraless criminal enterprise usurping actual Democracy in Australia and elsewhere...this post, however, is about Ms Khalik and her opinions and/or experiences...here's the links...*** 

https://twitter.com/jennineak

https://twitter.com/jennineak/status/1484303485680201729 

***And here's the copy of that thread*** 

Before I leave this continent, I want share with you some things I have never shared about the @australian, while they continue to publish their disgusting pieces smearing Palestinians. Want to know how unethical they are?

I am glad I stuck through because I can share with the world how they operate. As a young Arab reporter, I was asked to go to a local mosque wearing 'the stuff they wear' (hijab) to act as an informant and listen into sermons. I was given this task by editors and management.

This is the NATIONAL BROADSHEET. This was a demand. Of course, I didn't. I would drive around to pass the time, and would go back and lie and say I went and there was nothing. They wanted to use me as an informant to spy on my community. I remember crying and crying in the car

I can't describe the anger I felt. The pressure I was getting from Zionist lobby groups here + from the Israeli foreign ministry. The pressure + sick, unethical practices of @australian. But I knew I had to stay because if I was going to inform on anyone, it would be News Corp

 

Is this journalism, in your view? This is the Sh*rri M*rkson brand of 'journalism' –– infiltration, espionage. That's how they operate. This is an extension of the state. And I documented what I could.

While I put my head down and observed quietly, I was in therapy. Because I felt severely morally compromised staying, but if I left sooner and shared this – they could easily write me off as a disgruntled reporter. So I documented. I watched. I broke stories, and I watched.

I drew the ire of literally everyone. But it was in the first week I was there, that I knew (as a journalist) I had to stay. Sh*rri was emailing UN Watch's Hill*l Neuer and Vic Alh*deff from the JBD (two Zionist lobbyists) about me. I was being watched from day one.

This is a newspaper, a media empire, that - from my everything I saw - acts in service of Israeli apartheid + of the Australian state. It is a newspaper that would manufacture a story and find people to stand the story. It did not seek stories, it had stories locked and loaded.

It had headlines prepared, angles manufactured + tasked reporters with seeking out anyone to answer to that headline – ignoring everything else. This is how it drove its campaigns against Safe Schools, Indigenous justice, climate justice, Muslim communities, and ofc, Palestine

I don't want any sympathy. It was extraordinarily tough, but it was something I chose to weather. I have agency. This is something many people intrinsically know about these institutions, but there is no one from 'within' who will divulge how it actually functions.

And my hope is that it will empower people to share what they saw. What they experienced. What they observed. *This* is what is in the public's interest, and there needs to be accountability – aka burn it to the ground.

I have many stories + incidents I've only shared with close friends. At the time, and even now, I didn't + don't know what my avenues are. Where do you seek true accountability? I've thought about it for years + the best thing I can do is to share what I've observed + documented

Can I be bothered to write one long piece about it? Probably not. But I will tweet about it. After I left, I had hinted very vaguely what went on. Vaguely enough that none of you would get it. But an executive reached out to me for coffee to discuss i.e. ass-covering. I ignored.

And of course, this is why there was such an insidious campaign internally to push me out (I have the names of the reporters who created dossiers) and also from lobby groups (who also had dossiers on me). They did not want someone like me there to see this and be privy to it.

I entered a space that wasn't for me. It wasn't meant for me, or for people like me. This is also why media institutions do not want to diversify, and when they do, they instil fear in young, diverse reporters. It's a huge risk for them. They are protecting their fortress.

This goes beyond NewsCorp. Schwartz Media, incl its Saturday Paper, a so-called progressive alternative, have a quiet policy that they do publish anything critical of the state of Israel. If you've noticed, there's been nothing from them about the

@sydney_festival

BDS campaign

***Must admit that I'm a bit disappointed with the stuff about The Saturday Paper, which I have intermittently read stuff from and whilst I don't remember a specific incident/issue, have possibly repeated/quoted...apart from that it's entirely unsurprising...gunna' leave it there for today and go hide from the heat, 37C+ today, but back tomorrow...

Tomorrow: More Mt Gambier City Council Orchestrated Incompetence 

A calvacade of corruption-driven incompetence that seems to fortuitously benefit Councillors mates and/or family members...just this morning (Saturday 22nd February 2022) it was the CEO    on the ABC South East Radio deceitfully skirting around the issue of when the Farcical Aquatic Recreation Centre will be completed..apparently things are speeding-up again after the Xmas break and in a while after some major stuff is completed we'll have a better idea when the entire project will be completed...whatevs that means, but it's meant to be completed by Autumn 2022, which is itself a lengthy delay from the original supposed date...and at what cost? $80million+?...

I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog, cheers and laters... 

Michael Pascoe On Liberal/National Party Rorting (Porkbarrelling)

Howdy dear availees...profoundest apologies and deepest embarrassments, just noticed that I haven't posted for over a week, but at first thought it was some more external shenanigans messin' with the blog...(you mean like those posts that have been made "Unavailable" by Google, and/or those several that have disappeared entirely from the 'Draft Section'?-Ed)...and those several dozen that have somehow been removed but are still in the 'Draft Section', yeah, all of that...fortunately, it looks like a much more mundane explanation this time, in that I think I did this post and then simply failed/forgot to actually post it...so apologies, but here we go now...just noticed in 'Statistics' that my post The Hillsong Is Alive With The Sound Of Politics has had dozens of views in the last coupla' days...(somethin' to do with the li'l illegal shindig the junior godbotherers have been having in New South Wales?-Ed)...I'd reckon so, and dear availees, just Interweb search it for further details...and it's particularly relevant when one considers that PM Scott 'Scummo' Morrison's arrogant, smirking incompetence with the COVID19 Vaccine and/or Rapid Antigen Tests debasco (debacle/fiasco)...(you mean the stuff where-in if ya' overlay Scummo's Pentecostal  'Rapture Theology' lunacy, it uncomfortably exactly explains why it looks like he's gleefully trying to destroy Australian society and kill-off the poor, disabled, elderly, etc, all that stuff?-Ed)...yeah, exactly that stuff...

This post is one of a few that are backing-up in 'Drafts', so I've dug it out and it's therefore slightly dated...here goes...it's from several months ago, but this is an absolutely relevant issue, as Mr Pascoe explains, 'cos the Nationals are currently refusing to engage with their Liberal partners, eg, the shizzle fight over reaching Net Zero Emissions...(and Nationals' leader Barnaby 'Beetrooter' Joyce has been openly saying 'so what?' when asked about the multiple issues/instances of pork-barrelling-Ed)...so here's Mr Pascoe's latest piece in what's become a series of articles about this Institutionalised Rorting...I think that he's actually updated/expanded this topic since, so here first is the link to him and The New Daily website, and then the direct link to this particular article...I urge dear availees to regularly read TND 'cos they have multiple excellent articles on numerous topics...

https://thenewdaily.com.au/author/michael-pascoe/   

https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/2021/10/19/michael-pascoe-opportunity-cost-pork-barrelling/?fbclid=IwAR2uwuMqx8JeqMqCoLTNd-YBe2__5mgTDVjX3wZd7xLqXMvtFPJbtI1LNnY

A summary: 'When a government plucks, say, $660 million from the “#carpork” barrel in the shadows of an election for key seats, that is money that won’t be available for women’s shelters or child care or fair wages for aged-care workers.

..... Australia now is in the shadow of an almost unimaginable extortion racket – “tens of billions of dollars” for the National Party to agree to minimal carbon reduction promises Scott Morrison can take to Glasgow.

According to the Australian Financial Review, that’s the scale of the money on offer to get the Nationals’ Princes and Princesses of Pork across the climate change line.

“Sources said “tens of billions” were on the table,” reported Phillip Coorey.

“Infrastructure and communications would be the chief beneficiaries of any negotiation which, they noted, would also bolster the electoral prospects of regional Liberal MPs.”

Ah, “bolster the electoral prospects” – another euphemism. It means “vote buying”.

..... the suggested extra “tens of billions” would have to come out of other programs cut or forgone.

Round up the Coalition’s usual suspects – welfare, tertiary education, Medicare, social housing …

In the context of the current ICAC hearings that have come out of the Berejiklian government’s shamelessly political $250 million pre-election council grants, Democracy Matters director Sandy Killick reminded SMH readers:

“There is a real consequence of ministers using their discretion to divert millions of dollars to electorates of their choosing, over many years.

“The current NSW parliamentary inquiry into rural, regional and remote hospitals has been told that patients can’t be treated properly because morphine and paracetamol supplies run out.

“In November last year, midwives and senior obstetricians at Blacktown Hospital threatened to strike after a sixth baby died in two years in a maternity ward that is chronically understaffed. These things were happening before our valiant public health system was stretched by COVID-19, and it will need every dollar the state government can send its way.”

..... The Pork Party already has plenty of form ..... If Barnaby Joyce succeeds in getting $3 billion to extend the Inland Rail boondoggle to Gladstone to subsidise coal exports, that’s $3 billion that won’t be spent on solving genuine problems.

..... The money the Pork Party’s Senate leader gave to less-deserving clubs came at the expense of more-worthy projects ..... there seems to be the whiff of pork around every program the government touches, especially if the Nationals are closely involved.

Pork received a fresh airing last week with the breakdown of the Building Better Regions Fund Round Five winners – eligible Labor electorates disproportionately underfunded and some “interesting” grants. Anyone for pickleball?

..... Further information has come to light about Rounds Three and Four thanks to Freedom of Information documents uploaded to the Finance Department’s disclosure log.

The FOI requests deal with ministers making grant decisions that were not in keeping with their departments’ advice. It’s a rich trove.

In Round Three, 112 of 330 grants – 34 per cent – were chosen by McCormack’s ministerial panel against the department’s recommendations.

(And, true to form, only 12 per cent of the $197 million in the infrastructure stream went to Labor electorates.)

The department’s score improved a little in Round Four – “only” 30 per cent of grants were made against the department’s recommendations.

..... Was it necessary for the federal government to provide $85,363 for the Lorne Bowls Club to upgrade its green and surrounds in the seat of Corangamite? Sarah Henderson lost to Labor anyway.

Or $1.35 million to upgrade boat ramps for recreational fisherfolk in George Christensen’s Mackay?

Or $950,000 to build more units at Urunga’s Riverside Resort? (Pat Conaghan’s National seat of Cowper in NSW)

Or $800,000 towards stables for 60 horses at the Hunter Valley Equine Research Centre? The thoroughbred industry already does very well indeed out of governments – but this is in Barnaby Joyce’s electorate of New England.

And then there are the effective gifts for what are commercial enterprises. Sales yards, of “livestock exchanges”, are popular, picking up collective millions for upgrades while livestock prices soar.

The $400,000 for the Apple and Pear Growers of South Australia to subsidise their water pumping stations?

Or $2,250,000 towards 218 kilometres of the Murchison Region dog fence in WA, effectively a gift to 53 privately operating pastoral stations.' THENEWDAILY.COM.AUMichael Pascoe: The opportunity cost of the Pork Party – ‘tens of billions’

...so there you go...and as mentioned, there's been several extensions/expansions of this topic on TND...(and what about the current looming $16billion Rortfest?-Ed)...do tell...(well, it's been identified that Scummo and his merry band of psychotic rorters have stashed approx $16b for spraying onto the electorate during the approaching/current Federal Election campaign-Ed)...oh yay...(yeah, and Scummo doesn't appear to be denying it-Ed)...that's if the media bother to ask him...(and who can forget former Liberal arse-hat Alexander Downer's daughter last Federal Election when she was gallavanting about the seat of Mayo handing-out giant novelty cheques-Ed)...ah yeah, not actually a Member of Parliament, but doing multiple media stunt photo-op novelty cheque presentations as though she were, which is particularly relevant 'cos that's Taxpayer's money being dolled-out, Taxpayer's money being used by a candidate to self-promote via a woefully transparent round of pork-barrelling...

And of course there's the $15m that the Mt Gambier City Council received for the Farcical Aquatic Recreation Centre (FARC) at the initiative of Liberal Member for Barker Tony Pasin, courtesy of the Building Better Regions Fund, yet another pork-barrelling slushfest...you can bet your bottom dollar that that li'l fiscal disaster, now blown-out from '$39million' to a minimum $75m, will be front and centre of the Liberal's State and Federal Election campaigns this year...(are you sure? I mean, the FARC is an massive White Elephant shaped millstone for literally generations of Mt Gambier Ratepayers to come, are you sure that anyone is gunna' wanna' brag about how they're responsible for it?-Ed)...yeah sure, but that ain't gunna' stop Pasin et al praising themselves for organising the original 'grants'... 

I read with some optimism one of Mr Pascoe's recent articles, link attached below, where-in he covers the potential possibility that media pressure has forced the LNP's claw-like hand, and that funding percentages have massively shifted to a much more 50/50 scenario, as opposed to the previous 75/25 model...(but surely this apparent Fiscal Epiphany is also likely linked to the looming elections this year, and is similar to numerous other issues where Scummo and the LNP have suddenly announced funding for this and legilsation for that, etc, but it's clearly just superficial knee-jerk reactions to polling and the elections-Ed)...fair point Ed, and undoubtedly accurate, but I do choose to believe that it's been external pressure and/or exposure of this Rort Agenda that has forced this shift...(so if the pathetically complicit pro-LNP Main Stream Media and ABC, et al, if they had been allowed to just not cover/expose the Rorting, then said Rorting would have just continued unabated?-Ed)...which it still largely does, but yeah, I believe that this 'shift' is due to non-MSM like TND, Michael West Media, Kangaroo Court of Australia, Ronni Salt, and numerous others doing what the MSM flatly refuses to do...anyhoos, here's that link...   

https://thenewdaily.com.au/opinion/2022/01/12/michael-pascoe-2021-community-grants-corruption/

So apologies again for the self-inflicted cock-up, and let's just move on shall we?...

Tomorrow: Just How Incompetent Is Mt Gambier City Council?

(Hmmm, a statement of fact asked as a question, interesting-Ed)...well sure, it's arguably one of the most rhetorical questions in all of recorded history, but let's have a good ol' swing at it anyways...from the Aquifer Tours/Crater Lakes fiasco, the Old Rail Station deceits, and the FARC disaster, where does incompetence become corruption?...(another rhetorical question?-Ed)...well it's the same ol' question isn't it, at what point does Institutionalised Incompetence mask Institutionalised Corruption...(and does one negate/discount/delete the other?-Ed)...indeed... 

I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers and laters...

What Will The FARC Really Cost Mt Gambier Ratepayers?

Howdy dear availees right across The Third Rock, welcome to a largely revisionary post about the FARC (Farcical Aquatic Recreation Centre), but one that also predictably predicts what this means for the future of Mt Gambier...(well even 'revision' is at least looking at something, and with Mt Gambier City Council's history of deceit and mismanagement, a history that now defines their handling of this project, 'revision' is about credibility and even not repeating historic mistakes-Ed)...indeed, Ed, there's heaps of reasons to look at what's already transpired so as to predict and avoid and/or be prepared for what's to come...it's also a tangential reminder to oneself...(and anyone else whom gives half a damn-Ed)....yeah, a reminder of that old idiom, Think Globally, Act Locally...(yeah, 'cos what's happening in Mt Gambier is fundamentally irrelevant to what's happening on the rest of The Rock, and for example, the $70million+ that's already been poured into the FARC is a global pittance-Ed)...yep, but it's gunna' dominate locals lives for decades to come...

I refer dear availees to Council's various Budget documents as available on their website...years ago I used to drive myself to distraction by trying to nail-down the sort of rubbery figures that Council produced for their various Budgets/Plans/Strategies/whatevs, but I quickly gave it away as an exercise in infuriating futility...basically, I didn't trust the original numbers 'cos I didn't trust the clowns providing them, and ultimately, there were likely to be numerous changes, eg, 'Quarterly Reviews'...it was entirely pointless...(what's your point-Ed)...well now I'm going back to those same if more recent documents and associated figures, as prepared/presented by the exact same clown posse...(ahhh, and trying to quote them as being proof of what you're saying-Ed)...exactly...(that is indeed some sortta' conundrumy paradox-Ed)...and it gets worse...(oh dear-Ed)...'cos then I gotta' try and pin down the lies about "no Rates increases" to pay for the FARC...(is that the weasel-word stuff where-in Council has carefully said 'related to the construction', but doesn't include the running/maintenance there-of?-Ed)...yeah, it's like trying to pin-down a greasy pig...   

Now call me a jaded ol' cynic...(you jaded ol' realist-Ed)...what?...(well you know the ol' sayin', "A Cynic is what an Optimist calls a Realist"-Ed)...fair point, but my point is that this stuff appears to be deliberately vague and self-repeating such as to potentially confuse and/or deny...(please explain-Ed)...well in the section from the 2020/21 Budget, it states "$37.8 m for the delivery of services, identifies a certain amount for the FARC, then includes other programs and/or the maintenance of assets, etc...(so?-Ed)...well it's classic 'Politician Talk' for answering a question but then distracting from the truth you've just identified by tacking-on other issues/costs...(so where that 2020/21 statement says that Council has budgeted to spend about $26.8m for the FARC, they then try to dilute that by repeating the previously stated issues/costs?-Ed)...exactly, but if you compare the annual Budget 'costs' of approx $10m 'Capital Expenditure', the Budget papers appear to have Council spending far more on the FARC than they are prepared to admit...

I find it impossible to believe that the huge 'Debt Load' that Council is saddling Ratepayers with re the FARC is somehow going to magically resolve itself, that money has to come from somewhere...(and Ratepayers is it, unless there's more 'pork-barrelling funds' coming from the Federal and/or State Liberals-Ed)...well that's another issue, as covered below...what exactly is Mayor Martin referring to when she cites "additional funding"?...(yes, I note where there is reference to "additional funding" by Mayor Lynette 'In Da' House' Martin in the 2021/22 Summary, thusly-Ed)...***

(Page) 4
The 2021/ 2022 ABP&B shows a budgeted net surplus of $17.67 million. This includes budgeted amounts received for new assets of $18.36 million related to State, Federal and additional funding for the construction of the Wulanda Recreation and Convention Centre. The operating result for the 2021/2022 ABP&B provides for an operating deficit as at 30 June 2022 of $0.572 million as a result of COVID-19 initiatives undertaken during 2020.

***Now I don't know specifically what "additional funding" she's referring to here...(well, perhaps it's the coupla $100,000s that Grant District Council chucked, in, but why not just identify as such-Ed)...good point...(and that was already used in 2020/21 I reckon-Ed)...probably...(but I have heard rumours/allegations that the Marshall (Liberal) State Government has very quietly given MGCC more money for the FARC, but have deliberately kept it quiet 'cos of the gross embarrassment of being further associated with this debasco (debacle/fiasco) wholly Liberal Party project-Ed)...indeed, and given that the original $10m State grant was apparently already used in the 2020/21 Budget, is this "additional funding" a very sly admission from MGCC?...(maybe this refers to those other rumours/allegations that Council is once again fudging the real numbers on one of their farcically blown-out projects, eg, the Library, the Main Corner, the Rail Lands, etc, etc, by syphoning-off monies/funding from other Budget areas without identifying that's what they're doing?-Ed)...hey, gourd knows mate, maybe they've received other funding and 're-alocated' it thusly, nuthin' would surprise me...you see what I mean about trying to establish the reality/truth via these vague statements and dodgy/rubbery figures...(strewth! I sure do-Ed)...

Anyhoos, I've tried to crunch the numbers best I can using MGCC's own Budget documents...(well that was your first mistake-Ed)...indeed...so here's the numbers and the links for y'all to dissect and/or collate for y'allselves...(it's another case of hoping we're horribly wrong about this, 'cos the apparent reality/truth is gunna' be fiscally freakin' burdensome for Ratepayers-Ed)...indeed...as identified, the following figures are cut-'n'-pasted directly from Council's website, and can be checked there-in...***

Budget 2019/2020    

The budget outlines a total spend of $32.4 million in operating expenditure, depreciation of $7.3 million and total capital expenditure of $10.5 million for the delivery of services, programs and the maintenance of assets. This includes $2.6 million towards the first stage of the Mount Gambier Community and Recreation Hub project and development of new and upgraded assets, operating and capital expenditure. 

***...so, $2.6m allegedly on the FARC, whatevs...(well one assumes that was the vast cost of the relentlessly one-side pro-FARC promoting and advertising, renting that Main St shopfront, payrolling that deceitful, manipulative pro-FARC 'Vote', etc, etc-Ed)...yeah, probably, plus Planning Application costs, etc...but then in 2020/21 Budget papers, things get a bit freaky FARC wise, thusly...here's the link...***

https://www.mountgambier.sa.gov.au/news/council-adopts-2020-2021-business-plan-and-budget

Council adopts 2020/2021 Budget
25 June 2020

Following community consultation the City of Mount Gambier 2020/2021 Annual Business Plan and Budget was adopted at a Special Council Meeting held on Tuesday 23 June 2020.

The budget outlines a total spend of $33.4 million in operating expenditure, depreciation of $7.5 million and total capital expenditure of $37.8 million for the delivery of services, programs and the maintenance of assets. This includes $26.8 million towards the development of the Community and Recreation Hub project and new and upgraded assets, operating and capital expenditure.

***...and then in another place, link attached, it says this...***

https://cdn.mountgambier.sa.gov.au/docs/2020-2021-Annual-Business-Plan-Budget.pdf

Budget 2020/2021

Page 3 of 18
OVERVIEW
Our 2020/21 Annual Business Plan and Budget (ABP&B) is an important part of Council’s suite of Strategic Management Plans and Integrated Planning and Budgeting Framework. It aligns with our:
• Draft 2020-2024 Strategic Plan and its strategies, initiatives and projects
• Long Term Financial Plan
• the Asset Management Plans
ensuring that we optimise the mix of services, programs, infrastructure and facilities for the benefit of our Community. The 2020/21 budget provides for:
• $37.8 million in capital expenditure projects, $11.0 million is drawn from the Council’s detailed Asset Management Plans and $26.8 million from the Community and Recreation Hub project co-funded with $15 million from Commonwealth and $10 million from State grant funding;
• $1.593 million operating deficit as at 30 June 2021 before Community and Recreation Hub funding;
• $10.819 million net surplus after funding for Community and Recreation Hub funding; and
• Overall rate revenue will be fixed at 2019/20 levels in line with Our City. Our Response COVID-19strategy, with only the growth benefit inclusion to rates included.

***...so that's clearly saying $26.8 on the FARC...and that would appear to be the $15m Federal grant and $10m State grant...then we move to the current Financial Year...*** 

Budget 2021/22

 (Page) 6
OVERVIEW
The City of Mount Gambier ABP&B is an important part of Council’s suite of strategic management plans and integrated planning and budgeting framework. It aligns with:
• The 2020-2024 Strategic Plan and its strategies, initiatives and projects,
• Long Term Financial Plan (LTFP), and
• The Infrastructure and Asset Management Plans (IAMPs) to ensure that Council optimises the mix of services, programs, infrastructure and facilities for the benefit of the local community. The draft 2021/2022 budget provides for:
• $55.8 million in capital expenditure projects. $10.6 million is drawn from the Council’s detailed Asset Management Plans and $45.2 million from the Wulanda Recreation and Convention Centre project co-funded with Commonwealth and State grant funding,
• $0.572 million operating deficit as at 30 June 2021 before the Wulanda Recreation and
Convention Centre funding,
• $17.67 million net surplus after funding for the Wulanda Recreation and Convention Centre.

(But hang on a second, your saying that Council has spent $2.6m in 2019/20, then $26.8m in 2020/21, and are spending $45.2m this year, 2121/22?-Ed)...well, unless I've completely misread Council's own figures from their own documents, no, I'm not saying that, Council's saying that...(fair enough, but the last I saw and heard, Council is still stating quite specifically that this is a, quote, "$57m project"-Ed)...yep, indeed they have been...(and that despite the fact that it was exposed more than a year ago, via The Advertiser newspaper, that it was actually, and I quote again, a "$64m project"-Ed)...yeah yeah...(but these numbers from Council's website add-up to, ummm, $74.6m...have I got that right?-Ed)...well you've got the math correct, that's certainly what it looks like...going by these Budget numbers, it appears that the FARC is going to be a minimum $75m, from a starting point of $39.1m...(what happened to all those hilarious japesters who predicted that Council would screw this up like everything else they have ever done, and that it would blow-out by easily 100%?-Ed)...well those japesters have been proven right, haven't they...(yay-Ed)...

Yep, looking like at least $75m, and gourd knows how much more...(and where's all that money coming from? what's the "Federal and State grant funding" referred to?-Ed)...well quite, what does that refer to?...(does this relate to the original $25m combined grants, as used in the 2020/21 Budget, or is it some new 'funding' not specifically identified that we ain't heard about?-Ed)...exactly Ed, 'cos what I reckon is that it's a deliberate attempt to try and minimise the admission of "$46.2m" by trying to infer that that includes that original and already spent $25m , thusly reducing the appearance of Council's outrageous borrowings/expenditure...(strewth!-Ed)...   

So there you's go...I've tried my level damndest to trawl through all this dross and accurately and responsibly present what I genuinely believe to be the reality/truth...(and all the whilst hoping to be wrong-Ed)...pretty much...and that's just getting the damn thing built, we are yet to deal with the farcical 'privatisation' of the FARC and what that will cost Ratepayers...

Tomorrow: Multiple MGCC Corruptionings/Incompetence

'Cos when y'all start to look at MGCC's alleged functionings, one very quickly identifies a pattern of highly profitable and likely quite deliberate dysfunction...(well, profitable if you're one of Council's family or close mates, etc-Ed)...well indeed, that's exactly what I'm saying...supposed dysfunction and incompetence that coincidentally, miraculously always seems to profit Councillors and/or their mates/supporters...(doesn't sound like much of a coincidence to me-Ed)...mate! that's exactly what I'm saying...special Conditions/Protections and/or Tenders and/or Insider Trading, etc, for Councillors families/mates, and everyone else gets either Sweet Shreck All, or straight-out attacked and belittled and ripped-off, etc...(like what The Tuck Shop has been allowed to do, repeatedly, as compared to Council's appalling conduct regarding the Turners at the Aquifer Tours/Cafe-Ed)...exactly like Council's appalling conduct in shutting-down Mt Gambier's premier Tourism experience...(and then trying to justify that with provable lies-Ed)....all 'cos Council hates the Turners...

And one week after posting about MGCC's definable mate-protecting corruption regarding the 'Unlicensed' and therefore 'Illegal' function held at The Tuck Shop, I ain't heard diddly-squat from no-one...(you were expecting to?-Ed)...well not from MGCC, no, they're obviously protecting their mate, but I was prepared for some more anonymous abuse and/or perhaps some vacuous legal threats...(as per usual when you hit that very raw nerve known as The Truth-Ed)...exactly...and when one looks at MGCC's plans to 'privatise' the running of the FARC, it absolutely reeks of this sort of orchestrated maladministration and incompetence...(well they built the damn thing without an actual Business Plan, so why not have someone else run it for them, without a plan...how could that possibly go wrong for Ratepayers?-Ed)...mate, let me count the ways...

I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers and laters...