MR. CARBONE MONOXIDE (The man who would trash York)

The perceived truth about the progressive development of Allawuna Farm.

From 2004 to 2009, Dominic Carbone, was the Chief Executive Officer of the City of Canning. (The City of Canning then refused to renew Mr. Carbone’s contract citing allegations that he failed to tell Council the truth about properly securing (under ‘Capital Guaranteed’) a $60 million deposit of municipal funds.)

During his tenure as City of Canning’s CEO, Mr. Carbone apparently strongly advocated the disposing of the City of Canning’s household, commercial and industrial waste in the Avon Valley near Northam. This would have been at the Avon Valley Industrial Park, Grass Valley.

The then Member for Avon, Max Trenordan, with me as his part-time Parliamentary Research and Media Officer, launched a powerful campaign against the dumping of any Perth waste in his electorate.

This is unlike the ensuant Ms. Mia Davies MLA, who, like Max Trenorden, represents the Nationals WA, is also the Minister for Water, the state’s scarcest natural resource and part of the Allawuna problem, and is the Local Member for York.

The serious climatic, topographic, geological stability and hydrogeological issues identified at the Avon Valley Industrial Park were all similar to Allawuna Farm. So was the non-availability of closely situated, local disaster resources to prevent or, at least limit, the potential impact of any serious environmental pollution.

Lest we forget, including those with non-altruistic motives and convenient amnesia, Allawuna Farm is located well within the South-West Seismic Zone which is the most active in Australia.

The 1968 Meckering earthquake had the force of 10 atomic bombs of the destructive magnitude of those dropped on Hiroshima. Its epicentre was 7 kilometres underground; it raised the surface in some areas by 2.4 metres and caused subsidence in others of up to 1.5 metres. Nothing above or below the surface could be made secure from this level of seismic activity, including stored industrial waste. 

The then Labor Minister for the Environment and Climate Change, David Templeman, agreed and the plan was shelved. (Mr Templeman should not forget he was born in the Avon Valley, at Northam, 35 kilometres from York and 35 kilometres from Meckering.)

In 2009-2010, the ex CEO of the City of Canning, Mr. Dominic Carbone, now as head of Dominic Carbone & Associates, accountants, undertook an audit of the books of account and verification of the York Tourist Bureau Inc. at the request of the Shire of York CEO, Mr. Ray Hooper.

The audit, eventually, discovered massive discrepancies, including theft, resulting, finally, in the jailing of Katrina Nicole Watts in 2013, after a very slow investigatory, then judicial process that included allegations of local government and/ or political interference and attempts to find scapegoats by Ray Hooper. (Both Ms. Watts and her foster-father, Michael Watts had a strong affiliation with the Liberal Party, some Government Ministers and were known to the Premier, Colin Barnett.)

At this time it could be reasonably assumed that Mr. Carbone and Mr. Ray Hooper discussed the possibility of locating a major waste disposal site, near York, to take a toxic cocktail of metropolitan detritus. (The initial idea would have been Mr. Carbone’s as Ray Hooper does not have an entrepreneurial and/or commercial business acumen-related bone in his body.)

A fair and reasonable assessment of Ray Hooper’s entrepreneurial skills is that he is neither
a mover nor a shaker but a crafty strategist, making the most for himself from other peoples’ ideas.

As Mr. Carbone and Mr. Hooper discussed how they could set themselves up nicely in an expanded Local Government Area, the only waste, probably, not mentioned was nuclear.

However, asbestos residue was, and through its related disease, mesothelioma, it is predicted to have killed 35,000 by 2060, 8,000 more than the number of Australian servicemen and women killed in WW2.

Directly relating to waste management solutions, on January 4, 2011, the Shire of York Council Administration’s Duty Statement for the Deputy CEO, Ms, Tyhscha Cochrane included the provision that she must ‘oversee the preparation of Council’s Annual Budget, Annual Financial Statements and Plan for the Future in liaison with the City of Canning.

At this time the City of Canning was suffering from widespread dysfunction, including alleged serious governance irregularities. Improperly suspended by the Council’s Mayor, Joe Delle Donna, the, now Acting CEO of York, Mark Dacombe, resigned from his position as CEO of the City of Canning, on January 30, 2012.

The only feasible explanation for such a synergistic relationship between two diverse councils, and a hardly ideal partner, was under the ‘Plan for the Future’.

The City of Canning would have already investigated and probably planned with a waste disposal commercial enterprise, such as SITA, the logistics, commercial viability and profitability of using a locality within 100 kilometres of the CBD and serviced by a regional highway. This is York and its close environs.

For 8 months (in 2011) of  the ‘Plan for the Future’ partnership, between the Shire of York Administration and the City of Canning, the latter was being investigated by the Department of Local Government and the, then, Minister John Castrilli.

On November 21, 2012, the City of Canning Council was suspended and replaced by a Commissioner.

From January 2011, the Deputy CEO of the Shire of York, Ms. Tyhscha Chochrane, had an
employment contract obligation to pursue a financial relationship with the City of Canning,
focusing on ‘planning for the future’.

During this period, Mr. Mark Dacombe was the CEO of the City of Canning.

It is inconceivable that Mr. Dacombe was not aware of this relationship, that York’s official representative was Ms. Cochrane and what, if any ‘Plan for the Future’ was discussed and put in place.

If Ms. Cochrane did not engage with the City of Canning to pursue plans for the future she would be in breach of her contract of employment. If she did then Mr. Dacombe would certainly be aware of what they were. Therefore there should be no reason why Mr. Dacombe cannot advise the ratepayers of York what these plans were. (The excuse of commercial confidentiality is wearing very thin.)

The South East Avon Regional Transition Group (SEARTG) was established in September 2010. The office of Chief Executive Officer was held by Dominic Carbone and the Office of the CEO Services and the Division of Service Delivery Plans, by Dominic Carbone & Associates and DL Consultants. (Service delivery plans would include the removal and disposal of SEARTG household, commercial and industrial waste.)

Dominic Carbone and his company were charged by the Local Government Advisory Board (LGAB) with delivering positive regional development and the improved, effective delivery of local government services by SEARTG. (You can bet Mr. Carbone’s Avon Valley waste plan was in the mix and that is when Ray Hooper made sure York was picked, so as to ingratiate himself with the DLGC and the LGAB and hopefully become either the Deputy or CEO of the amalgamated SEARTG councils.)

Until its final meeting of July 8, 2014, after the Minister, Tony Simpson, refused to continue its funding, SEARTG still appeared to be the main driving force behind the SITA waste disposal plan, despite York community objections’ with Dominic Carbone still its senior executive. (It was SITA’s promise of a massive reduction in cost for the disposal of SEARTG’s own waste, next to Perth’s that was the lynchpin for the deal, but not quite.)

The full scenario is that in, 2011, the perfect SEARTG storm developed for Planning for the Future and Allawuna Farm. Ray Hooper and his golden opportunistic, personally ambitious coven were in power with Tyhscha Cochrane liaising with Mark Dacombe’s City of Canning administration. The former Deputy CEO of York, Graham Stanley, was now the CEO of Tammin.

(Mr. Stanley was the Shire of York’s financial observer on the Board of the York Tourist Bureau Inc. to ensure money was not ill spent or stolen. He obviously failed miserably.)

But best of all, Dominic Carbone, was now Acting CEO of the Shire of Cunderdin. Also the CEO of SEARTG with his own private business running SEARTG. This style of commercial conflict of interest could only occur in a dystopian, local government, foul-smelling business utopia. (Mr. Carbone is also a registered trainer with WALGA.)

In 2011, three of the five SEARTG shires had no degree of separation with Dominic Carbone, Ray Hooper and Graham Stanley at the helm, with a united voice. When Beverley decided to leave the group in 2012, only Quairading remained outside the triumvirate.

Ray Hooper resigned his position of CEO of the Shire of York on April 15, 2014, three months
before SEARTG’s involuntary closure. After his resignation, Ray Hooper, should have had nothing to do with SEARTG as he was no longer a representative of any associated council.

The new Acting CEO, Michael Keeble, would have had little knowledge of SEARTG so it would have been Tony Boyle, Pat Hooper and Mark Duperouzel carrying the SITA flag on behalf of York.

Throughout the negotiations with SITA, Ray Hooper, and his council cohorts, probably suffered extensively from the ‘trotters in the trough’ syndrome. None had the ability to come up with the original idea, or the negotiating skills to see the project to fruition.

They were just happy to receive the accolades from certain members of the state government and any attached additional pecuniary interest available- while they tried to hide what was happening from the York community. (The pecuniary interest would have included much increased council member allowances for being in SEARTG and related committees and, maybe, some vehicle maintenance and towing services gratuities from SITA.) (A gratuity, in this case, is the big tip for a vote for a tip)

There were to be 4 council representatives from York, with Pat Hooper and Tony Boyle hanging out for the major prizes, to be either President or Deputy President.

Another matter is that the Nationals WA (formerly the Country Party) is supposed to represent the aspirations and socio-economic requirements of rural communities, including the preservation of precious farmlands.

Between 2008 and 2013, the Hon. Brendon Grylls was the Minister for Regional Development, the Minister for Lands, and the Member for the Central Wheatbelt electorate, representing York. As the local member Mr. Grylls should have tasked himself with the protection of pristine farmland from non-agricultural, destructive usage.

It is impossible to suggest that an initial, negotiated purchase price of $6 million, for Allawuna Farm by a major waste disposal company, SITA, would have slipped under Mr. Grylls’ radar and not caused him to understand some serious issues had arisen.

A written comment from Ms. Mia Davies, Mr Grylls’ very close friend, confidante, colleague, and considered some sort of femme fatale in the Liberal Party backroom, infers he had no active participation in any government actions regarding SITA, and nor should he.

Personally, I found this response from the Hon. Mia Davies, the Minister for Water and the Member for York, possibly inaccurate at that time, and extremely disturbing regarding her future commitment to positive participation in preventing the Allawuna Farm project from becoming a reality. (She was either lying for her best friend, and/or, Mr. Grylls, was not acting in the best interests of his constituents.)

So the perfect storm now had the potential for a perfect disaster, assisted by mind-boggling
co-incidences and no degree of separation. It is quite incestuous with Dominic Carbone coming from the City of Canning, to Cunderdin and SEARTG, Graham Stanley from York to Tammin, and SEARTG, Ray Hooper from York to SEARTG and Tyhscha Cochrane liaising with the City of Canning when its CEO was Mark Dacombe, who is now the Acting CEO of York.

While all this was going on Mr. Dacombe was organizing visits by City of Canning Councillors
to Cunderdin for meetings with Acting CEO Carbone and Shire of Cunderdin Councillors. Maybe some questions need to now be asked regarding Mr. Dacombe’s past relationship with SITA, if any, and his current position, as York’s Acting CEO, relating to using Allawuna Farm to bury Perth’s trash.

You can add Local Member, Mia Davies, to this list, appearing to treat the second largest town in her electorate as a combination of Sodom and Gomorrah and not wanting its problems to be her problems.

So the catalyst for potential Allawuna Farm tragedy was Dominic Carbone and SEARTG, with those like Ray Hooper and his acolytes, slavish players in ‘a game of thrones’ for money and prestige.

Regarding other comments being made on this subject that, there may well be a conspiracy between politicians and other prominent individuals to assist SITA’s ambitions, the Shire of York Council (and its administration) has hardly endeared itself to numerous people in power since the year 2000.

With regard to the inactivity by the media in support of preventing Allawuna Farm proceeding, as someone who knows, I raise two issues.

Firstly there is the tyranny of population demographics, with much of the state’s population residing in Perth’s Greater Metropolitan Area. Rural Western Australia provides absolutely no financial incentive to the proprietors of The West Australian and The Sunday Times to have it included in the regular news coverage. In fact even the distribution of the print edition of both newspapers to Rural, Regional and Remote WA is a huge financial impost to them.

West Australian Newspapers (7 West Media) lets one of its Community Newspaper Group publications, The Hills/ Avon Valley Gazette, cover the Avon Valley, unless there is an absolute necessity for it to do so. (One example is a natural disaster.)

News Limited, publisher of The Sunday Times, is in partnership with 7 West Media in all
Community Group Publications. It is a duopolistic monopoly throughout most of the state.

Northam is arguably lucky. It has newspaper with a cover price, run by accredited journalists, who are employed by Fairfax Media, the publishers of The Age, Melbourne and The Sydney Morning Herald. (The cover price is an assurance that a newspapers content is read by the purchaser, not just used to start the lounge room fire or cover the bottom of the budgies’ cage.)

The Avon Valley Advocate (and its Editor John Proud) was a powerful weapon in the fight to prevent Perth waste being dumped near Northam, printing media releases by me, on behalf of Max Trenorden, and publishing its own articles, editorials and comment pieces. It enraged the local population to the point where the Labor Government stopped the project.

York and Districts Community Matters has a single proprietor/ publisher/editor and no accredited journalist. It relies totally on the financial support of local businesses, the communities it services and the support of the Shire Councils in its distribution area.)

There is a legal line in the sand between what is considered to be good investigative journalism and editorial comment and what can lead to admonishment by the Australian Press Council, followed by expensive court appearances should the plaintiff chose to do so. (That is why cadet reporters do Degrees in Journalism and newspapers have their own legal team.)

Mark Lloyd is fully aware of this as Ray Hooper complained about several cartoons and comments published by Mr. Lloyd to the Australian Press Council and demanded a public apology and retraction. Mr. Lloyd approached me for assistance and we told Mr. Hooper to get stuffed, because he had not done his homework, and as usual relied on carping rant and
innocuous threats with no real substance.

However, Mr. Lloyd is caught between a rock, a hard place and his bank balance with how he, personally, approaches and presents controversial local news in his own publication  (This means to all intents and purposes Mr. Lloyd does not author and publish articles on controversial local issues, other than in the ‘Letters to the Editor’ page where he feels he is indemnified against any actions taken by aggrieved third-parties.)

I provided a ‘waiver and disclaimer’ indemnification clause to Mr. John Oliver, a former publisher of a York newspaper that Mr. Lloyd may still be using to protect himself when he publishes articles and letters, submitted for publication, by those not employed by his newspaper.

York and Districts Community Matters does not have the capacity and resources to launch a powerful and persuasive, local community, public awareness campaign regarding the dangers of toxic waste as The Avon Valley Advocate was able to do.

Secondly, York’s heroic resistance against SITA means nothing to 75 per cent of WA’s population until it hits their hip-pocket nerve. Unfortunately, in this instance, this massive population base would prefer its waste to be York’s waste, whether it is dumped on precious ‘food-bowl’ land or not.

At the end, the heroism that may well be required is 200 angry York residents, standing on the steps of Parliament House, demanding that no Perth waste be dumped near York and calling for the resignation of Albert Jacobs, the current Minister for the Environment & Heritage.

Mr. Jacobs’ personal position is extremely tenuous because of his monumental failure to read the EPA Report on the controversial Roe 8 project, costing the government millions of dollars, massive time delays and making all the government participants look stupid, including the Premier.

Mr. Jacobs could be asked why Western Australia is the only place in the universe where pristine farm land would be used as a toxic rubbish tip. Also York land has been used for farming for close to 185 years and is an integral part of the history of survival of the Swan River Colony. (All the press will be there. It is when physical action takes place against the establishment that it takes an interest.)

You can hold rallies outside the Hon. Mia Davies electorate office in Northam, demanding she resign or threatening a strong campaign against her at the next election. (This will also guarantee press coverage.)

You can judiciously use social media to advise and enlist the support of international environmental groups and organizations regarding the ludicrous use of pristine farmland on a continent that is the most arid, and the second driest, on the planet. You can also mention that most of WA’s asbestos products were made of blue asbestos (crocidolite), by far the most dangerous ever mined.

All this should guarantee the support of the Labor Opposition and the Greens WA with the Government Coalition pretty close to being on the ropes 14 months out from a State Election.  You should also find yourself a very competent and committed lawyer.

Those York residents who have been fighting the good fight against Allawuna Farm may well have many of these actions planned as a worst case scenario. My list of suggestions is just the tip of the (angry community) iceberg on how to maximise community awareness.

Finally, there was no defect in the Shire of York Council’s apology. It was directly related to the Minority Report only, suggesting a lack of unity in this case only, in defaming York Council only. There was absolutely no inference that Shire Council Members should be restrained from having a differing opinion and expressing that opinion where-ever and when-ever they like, in public, in the media and to the Government. It is when this opinion, is withheld from fellow councillors, then deliberately distributed in a gutless, underhand manner in an attempt to ruin council to the detriment and damage of the York community that there is a (add your own fxxxing expletive) problem.

If I where the Shire of York Council, I would forget trying to do the right thing by communicating a sincere regret to the public, and let everyone wallow in the luxurious lack of transparency and no appropriate communication of the past.

(This document will be distributed to Labor and the Greens.)

Happy New Year
David Taylor.