Howdy dear availees...in recent posts we've been gettin' jolly basic about Mt Gambier City Councils' apparent development plans for the Hastings Cunningham Reserve...and relating directly to that issue are other concerns/issues fuelled by MGCC's actions regarding the $80m+ FARC (Farcical Aquatic Recreation Centre), sometimes referred to as the Wulanda Recreation Hub...(so you're talking about what, Ratepayers' distrust of MGCC due to all the secrecy and deceits?-Ed)...for one...(and the massive cost blowout?-Ed)...precisely, and how those 2 issues inter-relate...let's start with the lies and deceits...
Right from the FARCs' inception/planning, MGCC was blatantly lying to Ratepayers about it.
1) MGCC, particularly the (then) CEO Mark 'Mighty Marky Mark McShenanigans' McShane were animatedly adamant that Ratepayers had to accept the FARC proposal, in it's presented/proposed form, to guarantee receiving the Federal grant funding of $15m...this is not directly a lie, but it's a deceitful, manipulative misrepresentation of that process...
2) MGCC/McShane were simultaneously and absolutely frothingly insistent that Ratepayers must immediately accept the $15m grant offer, there-and-then, or otherwise 'the offer would lapse' and the opportunity be forever lost...MGCC/McShane repeatedly stated that if 'We' miss this funding opportunity 'We'll' never get another one, it's now or never...and that was/is an outright lie...
Liberal Member for Barker Tony Pasin, responsible for initially pushing this FARC fiasco, was publicly reported stating, 'it's no biggie if we miss this round of funding 'cos we can always just re-apply next year/round'...(we've covered this in earlier posts, wasn't that in the Lifestyle advertorial paper thingy?-Ed)...yes Ed, and yes...yes we have and yes it was...
'We' must accept this grant now or miss out forever!...fervently, repeatedly...an absolute lie.
3) 'Council will not raise Rates to pay for the FARC'...again, presented with the slippery-worded pseudo commitments like, 'no Rate rises to pay for construction'...(but that wording directly allows for Rate rises to pay for other things, like, say, running costs/maintenance/whatevs-Ed)...yes it does, and MGCC knows that, and that's exactly why they've used that language...(oh shreck, and what about repaying the massive $55m(+?) debt and associated interest, etc? that's not 'Construction'-Ed)...indeed it isn't...and again, why MGCC specifically used that language...
And again, this was completely contradicted by Tony Pasin, who, when questioned about the costs issue, stated that 'Council can just raise Rates'...I note that, amongst other changes, MGCC has moved 'Refuse Collection' to a stand-alone payment separate to Rates, a move that many describe as a Rate rise...("describe"; 'complain bitterly about'; we quibble over terms-Ed)...well quite...so, whilst this 'No Rates Rise' issue is not the direct lie that 'We must accept this funding now!' is, it is a major and deliberate deceit that will ultimately manifest as a lie...
4) The $39.1m Project...this is not so much 'a' lie, as a series of lies...MGCC has lied about this so many times, literally dozens of times, and in many different contexts...so let's start with the first one...
MGCC repeatedly promoted/described a 'Rec Centre' with indoor heated pools, sports courts, gym, cafe, etc, and stated the very specific cost of $39.1m...they sent out glossy flyers, did heaps of social media stuff...(rented that shopfront in The Main St-Ed)...yeah, all a' that, and every thing was about a completed $39.1m project...(MGCC were especially specific about that $39.1m when pushing/promoting this for the 'Public Vote'-Ed)...yes they were...at every stage, in every context, MGCC were promoting/promising a completed FARC at $39.1m...
MGCC continued publicly with this lie, The $39.1m Completed Project, whilst lodging their requisite Planning Application Approval forms with the State Planning Commission...and as we here at TMGI covered at the time...(and tried to stop-Ed)...and tried to stop, yep, we've shown where on the PAA form it says 'Cost Of Project' (not including fixtures and fittings)...(meaning what, that 'Cost' refers to the box only, not the contents?-Ed)...exactly, and as confirmed by the SPC when I contacted them, in that space MGCC wrote "$40m...
I note that by this stage McShane had scurried off into supposed retirement, and it's his replacement Andrew 'Peddle To The' Meddle who has filled-out those forms, but it's still MGCC...also, when I identified MGCCs' deceit about the costs, ie, $39.1m Completed vs $40m Box, the SPC stated that it was not their concern that MGCC was deceiving Ratepayers, the SPCs' only concern was that the paperwork was filled-out and filed correctly...
So there's that same lie already in several different contexts, namely, MGCC knew they were lying with their pre-PAA stage statements about $39.1m total, 'cos they knew they were going to cost 'the Box' at a flat $40m...they've then continued promoting/disseminating that $39.1m lie whilst going through the PAA process...
5) And then the $39.1m Completed Project Lie morphed into another and quite more bizarre lie...MGCC/Meddle repeatedly dismissed Ratepayers concerns/criticism about the multiple, escalating cost blow-outs, stating that they (MGCC) never promised a completed project for $39.1m...(but yes they did, that's exactly what they promised, repeatedly, publicly, and it's clearly stated as such in those flyers, etc, what we've still got here, somewhere-Ed)...precisely Ed, it's a bare-faced lie to deny that 'promise', a lie easily proven by the various flyers/documents produced and distributed by MGCC...and I don't know about anyone else but I've certainly kept everything I was sent, and that's exactly what MGCC stated...
MGCC/Peddle have repeatedly publicly denied they had ever committed to the $39.1m Finished Project, stating that that was always an 'interim design cost subject to alteration'...(well, no it wasn't, they very clearly stated, over and over and in print, etc, '$39.1m Project'-Ed)...sure,
and again MGCC/Peddle have tried to use very sly wording in their
excuse/explanation to try and dismiss/deny their original
statements...(and even if true, none of that 'interim design costs'
deceit explains how it got to the current $80m-Ed)...well quite...
This is indicative of 2 things...MGCC is prepared to just straight-out lie to Ratepayers...(straight-out lie on easily provable lies-Ed)...yep...and this is how they behave/react/lie when under pressure, eg, criticism over undeniable and pre-known cost blow-outs...which brings us to this...
6) This has become the $57m Lie and then the $62m Lie...repeatedly across the project construction, MGCC has knowingly lied about the actual cost...this has happened in several increments as the cost escalated...so there's been various references to small increases when MGCC knew they were much larger, etc, but that hit peak deceit when MGCC committed to the '$57m Lie'...knowing full well that costs had already reached and then continued to exceed $64m...(as exposed by a Mt Gambier journo in The Advertiser in early 2021-Ed)...exactly, as publicly exposed...and leading upto and even after that 'exposure' MGCC continued to state "$57m" as a final cost...
Only recently MGCC has 'revised' that 'final cost' to $62m, which is itself provably an abject lie...(as indeed we've proven/shown right 'ere on TMGI-Ed)...yes we have...(where we've proven/shown that MGCCs' own Budgets state they have committed a minimum $80m to the FARC, and in a context where that's likely at least $10m shy of the reality-Ed)...and as we always say to dear availees?...(don't just take our word for it, check-out MGCCs' Budgets for y'allselves and do ya' own math, it's all there-Ed)...exactly...
And with that $80m Lie come all the neat li'l side deceits where-in MGCC is 'Cost Shifting' aspects of the FARC Project...(you mean like listing associated works in other Budget areas, and/or syphoning/redirecting other funds/grants into FARC works, that sort of thing?-Ed)...exactly, a critical issue and as identified by the re-forming Residents and Ratepayers Association...
7) And MGCC have lied even when they didn't need to...in justifying changing plans from steel beam infrastructure to timber beams, MGCC argued that steel wasn't water-proof and wouldn't last...(well that's nonsense, of course it can be professionally sealed-Ed)...yeah, but that's only the tip of that lie...MGCC also stated it was to acknowledge how important timber is to the region...(before immediately stating that they had to purchase the timber beams overseas 'cos they weren't available here-Ed)...indeed...(which that timber union bloke Brad Coates said was untrue, those beams could have come from Queensland I think it was?-Ed)...indeed, Mr Coates was quite adamant that local purchase was possible and of course highly preferable...so that's 2 lies about the timber beams and we haven't even got to the big one...
MGCC justified transporting those giant timber beams as single beams, not as originally planned in sections to be joined on site, by stating that, due to COVID19, the providers 'joining technicians' could not get to Australia...(but I thought MGCC said that they had to get the solid beams so as to negate any possibility of moisture getting into those joints?-Ed)...yes they did Ed...so having originally stated it was due to COVID19 denying technicians getting here, within months they contradicted themselves with 'we have to to stop moisture'...(but why lie about that?-Ed)...gourd knows, but it's been suggested to me that MGCC knows those beams will 'rot' and are just setting-up a plausible defense for their culpability...
Bottomline, MGCC spent a small fortune...(an undisclosed fortune at that-Ed)...on transporting giant beams from Germany, when those same beams were allegedly available in Australia...and then, even when it was entirely unnecessary, they contradicted themselves in various iterations of the same basic lie..(wow-Ed)...yes Ed, wow...and whilst we've tried to be thorough here, there's undoubtedly other lies that we've forgotten or aren't specifically aware of...
And how does this relate to Hastings Cunningham Reserve?...(I'm glad I asked-Ed)...there's the 4 main issues here, namely;
1) MGCC can, does, and will lie, especially to Ratepayers...(and without hesitation-Ed)...absolutely, and on this single albeit massive FARC Project they have lied at every juncture and on every issue and often in layers of over-lapping deceits/lies, and even when they didn't 'need' to...
2) the massive FARC debt MGCC has incurred with their gross mismanagement is a minimum $50m...a Council desperate to fill such a massive fiscal hole is a very desperate Council indeed...
3) so with that combination of a culture of institutionalised deceit and the pressure of that massive debt, what is MGCC capable of doing?...I would argue, literally anything...
4) add to that the secrecy that MGCC has wrapped around every aspect of the FARC Project, from whom on Council voted to proceed with it, through all the actual costings, upto and including burying the Final Costs for, I believe it's 20 years...(and including aspects of the very dodgy 'privatisation' lease they've provided Belgravia-Ed)...oh my gourd Ed, at best it's a 'Pepper Corn Lease' for a private company to run a Ratepayer funded/owned facility...the whole set-up reeks of corruption and mismanagement...
And you roll all of these issues together as proof of a pattern of grossly unacceptable conduct from a definably corrupt, deceitful and desperate Mt Gambier City Council, and then comes this...yet another 'Secret Meeting', closed to Ratepayers/the public, where-in the single item to be discussed is "Update Hastings Cunningham Reserve Area and Public Housing"...
Given all of this, why wouldn't Ratepayers be absolutely concerned about the motivation for, intent of, and potential outcomes of that 'Secret Meeting'?
Or is this 'HCR-Housing' meeting simply a red-herring to distract away from other plans to sell-off another open area or even areas? When you're dealing with a deeply desperate Council proven/known to instinctively lie, literally any and every scenario is a potential reality.
Tomorrow: I'd Reckon More Stuff About Corruption
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers and laters...
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