On
April 4, 2016, an email was sent to the Shire of York Administration office titled
SHIRE OF YORK EMPLOYMENT POLICY with reference to a
letter MC15-280586 from the Department of Immigration and Border Protection {SEC=UNCLASSIFIED }
The email, in the form of an external memorandum, was directed to the Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Tyhscha Cochrane, and Human Resources Officer, Gail Maziuk, informing them of
correspondence on behalf of the Minister
for Immigration, Peter Dutton, regarding a Shire of York
Administration employee Christian Tarou Chadwick.
Information provided by the Minister suggested that should in future, Mr
Chadwick, be found guilty of another criminal offence under the Australian
Criminal Code Act 1995, or otherwise fail the requirements of the character test (Section 501),
he could be subject to a deportation
order and be returned to his country
of origin (New Zealand) under Section
501, the Migration Act, 1958. (Mr. Chadwick has since been remanded on
bail on further serious criminal charges.)
It was suggested to Ms. Cochrane and Ms. Maziuk that, given their administrative
positions and their knowledge of some negative incidents and circumstances
involving Mr. Chadwick’s employment with the Shire of York Council
Administration, they should seek to advise him of his potentially parlous
position.
This, in all procedural fairness, was that given the content of letter MC15-280586, Mr. Chadwick should obtain
legal advice regarding his family situation and any other pertinent facts that
could give rise to the revocation of his Australian
Visa and/or Permanent Resident Status should these be cancelled.
Also, in the past, apparent, supportive actions taken by certain Shire of
York Administration Officers may be construed as being to the personal
detriment of Mr. Chadwick placing him in the unenviable position of having his
actions in his employment and as a member of the local community closely
scrutinized and then adversely publicised.
It appeared that Mr. Chadwick may have assumed he could engage in unacceptable behaviour
within the workplace with impunity because Shire of York Administrative
Officers appeared to fail in their duty-of-care to other employees under the Occupational
Safety and Health Act, 1984, the Occupational Safety and Health Care
Regulations, 1996, similar obligations under Worksafe WA and the Criminal
Code Amendment (Racial Vilification) Act, 2004.
In the circumstances, such support could also be exposed as serious
inadequacies in the Shire of York Administration’s knowledge, then involvement and handling of employment related
issues, regarding Mr. Chadwick, as his employer, under the Acts and Regulations
defined above.
Also that these employment issues, including alleged bullying, harassment and
racial abuse of co-workers by Mr. Chadwick in the workplace, could be
considered by the Department of
Immigration as additional significant reasons under the requirements of the character test (Section 501) to have him considered for
deportation.
It is not known if Ms. Cochrane or Ms. Maziuk responded to this memorandum in
any manner other than the fact that the Shire
of York Council was not advised.
If they did approach Mr. Chadwick with these concerns then it appears to have
had little effect.
It is now understood that Mr. Chadwick may already be in serious breach of his
bail conditions through being in violation of a restraining order caused by him
making obscene gestures and being verbally threatening and abusive to the alleged
victim(s) in the criminal case against him.
These acts are alleged to have occurred during Mr. Chadwick’s rostered working
hours and he committed the alleged offence while in a Shire of York Council vehicle.
Should this be confirmed by a reliable independent witness(s) and/ or the WA
Police then the Shire of Your Council will have no other option than demand
that its Chief Executive Officer terminate Mr. Chadwick’s employment immediately-
otherwise be seen as condoning an illegal/criminal act.
The Shire of York Council is now advised that the Director, Character Assessment
and Cancellations Branch of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection forwarded information on the
case of Mr. Chadwick to the relevant area of the Department for their
consideration on-or –about March 10, 2016.
It can be assumed that he is on its watch & act list.
David Taylor.
Shire of York
Sunday, 29 May 2016
Wednesday, 25 May 2016
THE EVOLUTION OF WA’S BADASS BUREAUCRATS [and how they have adversely affected York]
Many Government Ministers have no qualifications or relevant knowledge of the
portfolios they oversee. This allows some power-hungry, manipulative senior
bureaucrats to run the show while feathering their own nests.
One example is former Byford baker and now Minister for Mayhem, Tony Simpson, who knows how many buns to shove in an oven without getting his fingers burnt. That is about it and therein lays the problem.
As everyone in WA well knows, he oversees a dystopian department entirely controlled by Jennifer Matthews and Brad Jolly that allows the elite of Local Government Councillors’ to accept any substantial gift they care to greedily grasp without telling anyone. (Arguably some who they protect should be facing a $10,000 fine and up to two years in Bandyup with the forced removal of their Prada handbags and Gucci shoes.)
The moral and ethical compass was thrown in the bin the day Matthews and Jolly took office and introduced the ‘let’s cover our own ass’ control system.
Now, the only reason that Simpson is still in the local government saddle is that no one else wants to ride this horse to the next State Election.
Another is the Minister for Racing, Gaming and Liquor, Colin Holt, whose former day-job was as a Zoologist.
This means he should know the difference between an aardvark and a zebra, an orangutan and Homo sapiens and a chimpanzee and politicians and that is basically it. (That is unless you are really into the Animal Kingdom, all creatures great and small, living and extinct, and their current and past interaction with the surrounding ecosystems?)
Despite his apparent intelligence- the relevance of his past employment to his current ministerial portfolios escapes us all. Other than the fact that the Premier, Colin Barnett, had no choice after Terry Waldron pulled the pin, otherwise the Nationals would have grabbed their bat and ball and slunk off to sulk in the corner. (At least Waldron played ‘footy’ for Claremont.)
As the Minister for Alcohol Libation would Holt know that orangutan’s love their Martini’s shaken-not-stirred, chimpanzees’ love a nip of Sherry after lunch and they both want extended trading hours? Maybe- but highly unlikely!
Just as Tony Simpson is saddled with Jennifer Matthews, the Queen of bureaucratic malevolent manipulation and ‘cumulus granites’ transparency, Colin Holt has the distinct misfortune of having Barry Sargeant as his Director General of Racing, Gaming and Liquor. (Cumulus granites is the colloquialism for ‘cloud of rock’ and it is the last thing pilots say before ploughing into a mountain-straight after-Oh no!)
We all know that Sargeant accepted a fully paid junket to Macau from James Packer’s Crown Perth Casino that he is absolutely not allowed to do.
At that time Crown Perth’s high roller market was suffering from market failure so off flew Barry, first class with all the trimmings, to scope the casinos in Macau for and on-behalf- of Crown Perth, James Packer and now fiancĂ©e- Mariah Carey.
This fancy flight was the direct result of Crown Perth bleating that it was losing its Asian market share, some high rollers had got extremely lucky and therefore the casino needed tax concessions from the State Government.
After Sargeant got back, Crown Perth’s profit from Asian High-Rollers jumped by $76 million and on his last day as Minister Assisting the Crown Perth casino, Terry Waldron, granted the most monopolistic gambling den in Australia, state tax-cuts of three (3) per cent to help celebrate its fifty (50) per cent profit hike in the Asian high roller market.
What should be remembered is WA is the only state in Australia without poker machines in its pubs and clubs giving Crown Perth the world’s greatest free kick. Nothing is new. Ever since the casino doors opened in December, 1985, the relationship between its owners and the State Government has smelt like a decomposing rat.
Just think what is happening now. The State Government builds a 60,000 seat stadium within a short stroll of Crown Perth’s 32 licenced restaurants and bars- and its gaming rooms. (When you see the Minister for Sport, Mia Davies, next- tell her just how big a commercially convenient coincidence this is.)
And last but not least, Sargeant, has reduced the hours that his gaming inspectors patrol Crown Perth’s gaming floors insinuating that it is such a good corporate citizen it would never do anything untoward to prevent its clients from constantly winning.
Another excuse he uses is that they are needed to patrol other venues. If he is talking about other licenced gaming premises- there are none.
Of course there is no possible conflict-of-interest in Sargeant and Waldron helping out a multi-billion dollar, mega-mate whose international profits make WA’s potential debt of $40 billion look paltry.
Nor was Sargeant in serious breach of the rules regarding acceptance of hospitality from a third-party with known commercial interests in gaming and liquor- being one of the biggest players in the gambling game.
Bullshit! Is the stern reply!- and the only answer!
Everyone in York knows what Jennifer Matthews and her plaything, Tony Simson, are answerable for. That is attempting to destroy the Shire of York Council by supporting the Shire of York Administration and its former CEO to cover up their shocking lack of compliance, probity and accountability in local government governance.
Poor old Colin Holt has inherited his disaster, Barry Sargent, the silent but deadly bureaucratic autocrat they call ‘The Power on Tap’.
It has been stated in the Press that obtaining any liquor licence from Barry Sargeant is like trying to extract a crocodiles’ teeth.
That is unless you are the Shire of York Administration in direct commercial conflict with lots of private enterprise licencees, being a government agency that could not care less what Public Interest Assessment means, that has no qualifications or ability to administer licenced premises and these premises are already steadily going broke.
It also helps when there is a State Election a few days away, when the premises are partially Royalty for Regions funded, in a Nationals electorate, when the relevant Minister is from the Nationals and Barry Sargeant is the undisputed ‘Power on Tap’.
No-one can truly understand what damage these bureaucrats, Matthews and Sargeant, have done to York unless you get to read documents like SYO49-05/6 2016 Major Strategic Report, Road Standards reviewed by Talis Consulting Pty Ltd, in its entirety. (And the Fitz Gerald Report.)
In the Agenda for the Shire of York ‘Ordinary Council Meeting’ of Monday May 23, 2016, the discussion summary of this review was just six pages in length.
The actual Talis Report is 30 pages long and has a further 18 pages of corroborative written attachments and accompanying photographs.
Taken in the context that this review has been caused by municipal funds allocated for road funding, being slyly diverted to keep the doors of the YRCC and its tavern open, it signals gross financial mismanagement bordering on criminal negligence.
The safety of those who use Shire of York roads has been seriously jeopardized to cover up a deliberate 100 per cent under-costed, majorly incompetent commercial mistake. How much damage has been done?
It is now up to the Shire of York Council to demand that the Shire of York Administration supplies the current costing for all road maintenance required to be done in the next twelve (12) months and advises its ratepayers- Is there a current shortfall in funding? And how much this shortfall is?
At no stage in the near future should the Shire of York Council allow the Shire of York Administration to raise local rates to compensate for any shortfall in funding for road maintenance caused by what has been done by it. (The rating increases, per annum, have so far been set at four (4) per cent which is acceptable.)
Above and beyond this- ratepayers should find increased rates for past failures in road maintenance totally unacceptable. And the Shire of York Administration must investigate all possible avenues of road maintenance funding as the current shortfall is actually obscene and the system in place for road maintenance is an abomination. (This situation is what the Talis review has brought to light.)
I believe the Shire of York Administration has, or intends to, downsize its current staff including the termination of employment of the Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Tyhscha Cochrane, Human Resources Officer, Gail Maziuk and Manager of Development Services, Gordon Tester. If not replaced, this would be a total cost saving of around $500,000.
This should be seen by everyone as the final exit, and demise, of a past, failed local government administration regime, thereby providing a positive stimulus and a new impetus and direction for the future.
Regarding the liquor licence for the YRCC, this should have always been placed in the hands of York’s sporting associations and related entities, never the Shire of York Administration.
Barry Sargeant was strenuously advised of this but he considered all arguments ‘inconsequential’
An email was sent recently to Colin Holt, referring to Barry Sargeant’s involvement in providing the YRCC’s Tavern Licence.
To Colin Holt Your Ref: Barry Sargeant
I quote:-
Please congratulate your bumbling buffoon of a bureaucrat on his penultimate destruction of York’s tourism industry and the Shire of York’s finances.
Your ‘Clown on Tap’ provided a Tavern Licence to the Shire of York when a shire of just 3,400 had 2x liquor stores, 2x hotels, 2x taverns and at least 2x separate licenced restaurants. Some have now shut completely and the others are struggling.
Sargeant was advised that the premises for the proposed Local Government Tavern were already in extreme financial difficulty and that the Shire of York Administration had proved to the WA Ombudsman that it lacked many forms of administrative competence. In fact it was classed as being ‘Defective’ which means flawed, faulty, shoddy and inoperative (Maybe Sargeant didn’t have his Lexicon handy.)
Not only did Sargeant ignore this advice, for 12 months he told his staff to nursemaid the Shire through the process because it was incapable of providing appropriate Public Interest Assessments itself
Now the Tavern is virtually shut and most of the senior Shire of York Administration staff have been sacked, demoted or done a runner.
Tell Sargent to attach this little effort to his CV and send York ratepayers the $500,000 a year it costs to keep the Tavern doors open a couple of days a week.
Oh, and tell him not to drive around York, the roads are in bad shape because money to be spent on maintenance has been diverted to try and cover the Tavern’s gigantic debt.
David Taylor.
This is enough said on this matter, however the past explains the future.
I do not think that anyone gets any great pleasure in writing articles for the blogs. It is not a pleasant
task but is necessary until all the needs, wants and aspirations of the community of York are recognized and a path set that leads to a positive end result for all.
July 1, 2016, should (and must) be the day of a new beginning for York.
One example is former Byford baker and now Minister for Mayhem, Tony Simpson, who knows how many buns to shove in an oven without getting his fingers burnt. That is about it and therein lays the problem.
As everyone in WA well knows, he oversees a dystopian department entirely controlled by Jennifer Matthews and Brad Jolly that allows the elite of Local Government Councillors’ to accept any substantial gift they care to greedily grasp without telling anyone. (Arguably some who they protect should be facing a $10,000 fine and up to two years in Bandyup with the forced removal of their Prada handbags and Gucci shoes.)
The moral and ethical compass was thrown in the bin the day Matthews and Jolly took office and introduced the ‘let’s cover our own ass’ control system.
Now, the only reason that Simpson is still in the local government saddle is that no one else wants to ride this horse to the next State Election.
Another is the Minister for Racing, Gaming and Liquor, Colin Holt, whose former day-job was as a Zoologist.
This means he should know the difference between an aardvark and a zebra, an orangutan and Homo sapiens and a chimpanzee and politicians and that is basically it. (That is unless you are really into the Animal Kingdom, all creatures great and small, living and extinct, and their current and past interaction with the surrounding ecosystems?)
Despite his apparent intelligence- the relevance of his past employment to his current ministerial portfolios escapes us all. Other than the fact that the Premier, Colin Barnett, had no choice after Terry Waldron pulled the pin, otherwise the Nationals would have grabbed their bat and ball and slunk off to sulk in the corner. (At least Waldron played ‘footy’ for Claremont.)
As the Minister for Alcohol Libation would Holt know that orangutan’s love their Martini’s shaken-not-stirred, chimpanzees’ love a nip of Sherry after lunch and they both want extended trading hours? Maybe- but highly unlikely!
Just as Tony Simpson is saddled with Jennifer Matthews, the Queen of bureaucratic malevolent manipulation and ‘cumulus granites’ transparency, Colin Holt has the distinct misfortune of having Barry Sargeant as his Director General of Racing, Gaming and Liquor. (Cumulus granites is the colloquialism for ‘cloud of rock’ and it is the last thing pilots say before ploughing into a mountain-straight after-Oh no!)
We all know that Sargeant accepted a fully paid junket to Macau from James Packer’s Crown Perth Casino that he is absolutely not allowed to do.
At that time Crown Perth’s high roller market was suffering from market failure so off flew Barry, first class with all the trimmings, to scope the casinos in Macau for and on-behalf- of Crown Perth, James Packer and now fiancĂ©e- Mariah Carey.
This fancy flight was the direct result of Crown Perth bleating that it was losing its Asian market share, some high rollers had got extremely lucky and therefore the casino needed tax concessions from the State Government.
After Sargeant got back, Crown Perth’s profit from Asian High-Rollers jumped by $76 million and on his last day as Minister Assisting the Crown Perth casino, Terry Waldron, granted the most monopolistic gambling den in Australia, state tax-cuts of three (3) per cent to help celebrate its fifty (50) per cent profit hike in the Asian high roller market.
What should be remembered is WA is the only state in Australia without poker machines in its pubs and clubs giving Crown Perth the world’s greatest free kick. Nothing is new. Ever since the casino doors opened in December, 1985, the relationship between its owners and the State Government has smelt like a decomposing rat.
Just think what is happening now. The State Government builds a 60,000 seat stadium within a short stroll of Crown Perth’s 32 licenced restaurants and bars- and its gaming rooms. (When you see the Minister for Sport, Mia Davies, next- tell her just how big a commercially convenient coincidence this is.)
And last but not least, Sargeant, has reduced the hours that his gaming inspectors patrol Crown Perth’s gaming floors insinuating that it is such a good corporate citizen it would never do anything untoward to prevent its clients from constantly winning.
Another excuse he uses is that they are needed to patrol other venues. If he is talking about other licenced gaming premises- there are none.
Of course there is no possible conflict-of-interest in Sargeant and Waldron helping out a multi-billion dollar, mega-mate whose international profits make WA’s potential debt of $40 billion look paltry.
Nor was Sargeant in serious breach of the rules regarding acceptance of hospitality from a third-party with known commercial interests in gaming and liquor- being one of the biggest players in the gambling game.
Bullshit! Is the stern reply!- and the only answer!
Everyone in York knows what Jennifer Matthews and her plaything, Tony Simson, are answerable for. That is attempting to destroy the Shire of York Council by supporting the Shire of York Administration and its former CEO to cover up their shocking lack of compliance, probity and accountability in local government governance.
Poor old Colin Holt has inherited his disaster, Barry Sargent, the silent but deadly bureaucratic autocrat they call ‘The Power on Tap’.
It has been stated in the Press that obtaining any liquor licence from Barry Sargeant is like trying to extract a crocodiles’ teeth.
That is unless you are the Shire of York Administration in direct commercial conflict with lots of private enterprise licencees, being a government agency that could not care less what Public Interest Assessment means, that has no qualifications or ability to administer licenced premises and these premises are already steadily going broke.
It also helps when there is a State Election a few days away, when the premises are partially Royalty for Regions funded, in a Nationals electorate, when the relevant Minister is from the Nationals and Barry Sargeant is the undisputed ‘Power on Tap’.
No-one can truly understand what damage these bureaucrats, Matthews and Sargeant, have done to York unless you get to read documents like SYO49-05/6 2016 Major Strategic Report, Road Standards reviewed by Talis Consulting Pty Ltd, in its entirety. (And the Fitz Gerald Report.)
In the Agenda for the Shire of York ‘Ordinary Council Meeting’ of Monday May 23, 2016, the discussion summary of this review was just six pages in length.
The actual Talis Report is 30 pages long and has a further 18 pages of corroborative written attachments and accompanying photographs.
Taken in the context that this review has been caused by municipal funds allocated for road funding, being slyly diverted to keep the doors of the YRCC and its tavern open, it signals gross financial mismanagement bordering on criminal negligence.
The safety of those who use Shire of York roads has been seriously jeopardized to cover up a deliberate 100 per cent under-costed, majorly incompetent commercial mistake. How much damage has been done?
It is now up to the Shire of York Council to demand that the Shire of York Administration supplies the current costing for all road maintenance required to be done in the next twelve (12) months and advises its ratepayers- Is there a current shortfall in funding? And how much this shortfall is?
At no stage in the near future should the Shire of York Council allow the Shire of York Administration to raise local rates to compensate for any shortfall in funding for road maintenance caused by what has been done by it. (The rating increases, per annum, have so far been set at four (4) per cent which is acceptable.)
Above and beyond this- ratepayers should find increased rates for past failures in road maintenance totally unacceptable. And the Shire of York Administration must investigate all possible avenues of road maintenance funding as the current shortfall is actually obscene and the system in place for road maintenance is an abomination. (This situation is what the Talis review has brought to light.)
I believe the Shire of York Administration has, or intends to, downsize its current staff including the termination of employment of the Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Tyhscha Cochrane, Human Resources Officer, Gail Maziuk and Manager of Development Services, Gordon Tester. If not replaced, this would be a total cost saving of around $500,000.
This should be seen by everyone as the final exit, and demise, of a past, failed local government administration regime, thereby providing a positive stimulus and a new impetus and direction for the future.
Regarding the liquor licence for the YRCC, this should have always been placed in the hands of York’s sporting associations and related entities, never the Shire of York Administration.
Barry Sargeant was strenuously advised of this but he considered all arguments ‘inconsequential’
An email was sent recently to Colin Holt, referring to Barry Sargeant’s involvement in providing the YRCC’s Tavern Licence.
To Colin Holt Your Ref: Barry Sargeant
I quote:-
Please congratulate your bumbling buffoon of a bureaucrat on his penultimate destruction of York’s tourism industry and the Shire of York’s finances.
Your ‘Clown on Tap’ provided a Tavern Licence to the Shire of York when a shire of just 3,400 had 2x liquor stores, 2x hotels, 2x taverns and at least 2x separate licenced restaurants. Some have now shut completely and the others are struggling.
Sargeant was advised that the premises for the proposed Local Government Tavern were already in extreme financial difficulty and that the Shire of York Administration had proved to the WA Ombudsman that it lacked many forms of administrative competence. In fact it was classed as being ‘Defective’ which means flawed, faulty, shoddy and inoperative (Maybe Sargeant didn’t have his Lexicon handy.)
Not only did Sargeant ignore this advice, for 12 months he told his staff to nursemaid the Shire through the process because it was incapable of providing appropriate Public Interest Assessments itself
Now the Tavern is virtually shut and most of the senior Shire of York Administration staff have been sacked, demoted or done a runner.
Tell Sargent to attach this little effort to his CV and send York ratepayers the $500,000 a year it costs to keep the Tavern doors open a couple of days a week.
Oh, and tell him not to drive around York, the roads are in bad shape because money to be spent on maintenance has been diverted to try and cover the Tavern’s gigantic debt.
David Taylor.
This is enough said on this matter, however the past explains the future.
I do not think that anyone gets any great pleasure in writing articles for the blogs. It is not a pleasant
task but is necessary until all the needs, wants and aspirations of the community of York are recognized and a path set that leads to a positive end result for all.
July 1, 2016, should (and must) be the day of a new beginning for York.
Thursday, 19 May 2016
OPEN LETTER TO THE SHIRE OF YORK COUNCIL
‘ ROADS’ TO DISASTER’
The Shire of York Administration’s failed Road Maintenance Program
It is mooted that the current Shire of York Council will oversee a review of the Shire of York Administration’s maintenance and development program regarding all roads under its jurisdiction. This, hopefully, will be part of its 2016 Major Strategic Review which, when completed, should be released, in in its entirety, for public comment. This should be by no later than June 30, 2016.
Based on documented evidence and visual observation of the current standard of some local roads the prognosis for any review is that it will include a damning indictment of the performance of the Shire of York Administration directly referring to all aspects of its Road Maintenance Program over an entirely unacceptably period of time.(Since 2011 to be exact.)
Therefore any worthwhile ‘Review’ should include (but not be limited to):-
the forensic examination of any diversion of State and, possibly, Federal Local Government Road Funding (and other grants) by the Shire of York Administration to other projects, in particular the York Recreation and Convention Centre that was to the financial detriment of the Road Maintenance Program.
Thereby:-
(a) causing Shire roads not to meet acceptable, mandatory regulation standards
and
b) causing adverse road conditions that could experientially increase the risk of serious vehicle accidents. (In addition this should include a pertinent investigating into any risk of the Shire of York Administration’s exposure to compensation claims from death and serious injury through any failure in any obligatory duty-of-care requirement to ensure its roads meet sufficient safety standards for all road-users and usage.)
That the Shire of York Administration should demonstrate to the York community that it has, or will have the financial capability and capacity to:-
i) restore!
ii) improve!
and
iii) then- adequately maintain:-
all roads under its jurisdiction in the short, medium and long term.
That the Shire of York Administration should aver to the York community it will employee
a) a Roadworks Manager/Supervisor
and
b) complimentary road maintenance staff with fully documented qualifications and experience in road construction and maintenance of rural and regional roads in full compliance with all mandatory procedures and standards for all such road development, construction and maintenance
otherwise
c) engage highly reputable licenced contractors to provide the same services.
IN ADDITION
The Shire of York Council should avow to all ratepayers and the entire York community that is ultimately responsible for the quality of all roads listed as being under the jurisdiction of the Shire of York Administration and as such warrants that:-
all such roads will be restored to all required standards by no later than June 30, 2017.
The Shire of York Council should warrant that all rate valuations on all commercial and domestic properties (including agricultural lands) within its Local Government Area will not be increased and remain as per the rate assessments for the 2015 -2016 Financial Year until July 1, 2017.
The Shire of York Council should warrant that all rate valuations on all commercial and domestic properties (including agricultural lands) within its Local Government Area for the 2017-2018 Financial Year will not exceed the annual rate of inflation registered in the 2016-2017 Financial Year.
The Shire of York Council should acknowledge its past inability to properly and adequately exercise its designated authority over the Shire of York Council Administration with particular regard to an adequate Road Maintenance Program and assures its ratepayers that local policy strictures have been put in place to prevent such an occurrence in future.
The Shire of York Council declares it will ,and will publically be seen to be, taking control of all pertinent Shire of York, Local Government Area affairs as of July 1, 2016 in the best interest of its ratepayers and the general community.
The reason for this, with particular emphasis on the Road Maintenance Program is that the Shire of York Administration is responsible for the following:-
a) continuous systemic and endemic failings in the design, construction and maintenance of its road system and related structures for a period of no less than five (5) years
b)absolutely no measurement of the safety condition of its road system and related structures for any known period of time
and
c) a sixty (60) % shortfall in available funding to maintain its road system and related structures in
their current condition.
David Taylor.
Wednesday, 18 May 2016
YRCC TAVERN LICENCE
ORIGINAL OBJECTIONS TO THE DECISION OF THE
DIRECTOR GENERAL OF RACING, GAMING AND LIQUOR
LICENCING,BARRY SARGEANT, TO GRANT A
‘TAVERN LICENCE’ TO THE SHIRE OF YORK.
(It should be duly noted that Barry Sargeant, as Director General of Racing, Gaming and Liquor accepted a fully paid trip to Macau from James Packer’s Crown Perth Casino. As a senior government bureaucrat, Sargeant was in breach of the rules regarding acceptance of gifts and hospitality from third-parties with known or perceived commercial interest in racing, gaming and liquor. His trip was approved by the then Minister for Racing, Gaming and Liquor, Terry Waldron, who’s response regarding the question of conflict-of-interest was unintelligible. The actuality was that Sargeant went to Macau to assist in protecting the commercial interests of Crown Perth.
This is just part of the continuing absence of accountability and excess of moral turpitude that the WA public has to put up with from government agencies.) David Taylor.
DECEPTIVE CONDUCT by the Shire of York
First- It was the use of a misleading non- definitive title, Liquor Licence, by the Shire of York to garner additional local community support to be granted a highly definitive Tavern Licence. This- being an act of deliberate omission and deceit.
(The term Liquor Licence includes but is not limited to Tavern Licence. It is a generalization only encompassing all types of liquor licences, from the most restrictive to the least restrictive options.
This occurred nine (9) months after the cut-off date for any objections to a Tavern Licence being granted to the Shire of York, through a letter from the Shire of York, signed by its Chief-Executive Officer, requesting additional local community support for gaining a liquor licence for the YRCC. This was because it had not met its obligations to provide appropriate community responses to its original request for a Tavern Licence.
At this time the Shire chose to use the innocuous, generalized term Liquor Licence, rather than the massively all- encompassing Tavern Licence to define its prior, incompetent application which would have been rejected had it been submitted by a prospective private enterprise licensee. (The intent was to dramatically reduce any objections to the licence application as it believed most of the community was in favour of a form of liquor licence being granted. This should have been an adequate form of Club Licence to the satisfaction of all sporting bodies, the public in general and in the best interest of competitive neutrality with local businesses.
The Director General concluded that as a (and I quote)‘balance of probabilities’ all objections and interventions were with regard to a Tavern Licence only and such a licence would be and was granted. It was highly likely that, Barry Sargeant, was advised by his Minister, Terry Waldron to grant the Tavern Licence just prior to the 2013 State Election to fulfill an overt election promise no matter what.
SHIRE OF YORK’S UNACCEPTABLE LEVEL OF DEBT
The Shire of York already had a substantial, arguably unsustainable, debt on the YRCC development and the Director General was advised of this. Barry Sargeant had no information at his disposal of a commercial/financial nature suggesting that the Shire of York could service the debt through local ratepayer funding or by any other method. In fact all available advice was to the contrary.
In 2008, the official budget estimate was put at $4,386,000 contradicting an industry estimate of in excess of $5 million. The current estimate is between $8 and $12 million, an overly excessive debt.
The fact the Director General found it to be (in his words) inconsequential that a Tavern Licence applicant’s proposed premises was in financial difficulty and this should not preclude the granting of such a licence was appalling economic nonsense and non-accountability at its bureaucratic worst.
It is likely that Barry Sargeant, was advised by his Minister, Terry Waldron to grant the Tavern Licence in a futile attempt to ensure the future financial viability of a project funded by Royalties for Regions
COMPETITIVE NEUTRALITY BETWEEN THE SHIRE OF YORK AND LOCAL BUSINESSES
No government agency should be allowed, under any circumstances, to grant any form of public- commercial licence to another government agency to provide goods and services already available from private enterprise, or that can be provided by private enterprise- other than the supply of public utilities and associated servicing.
No government or its agencies should interfere in a free-market economy unless clearly franchised by electors to do so. This had not occurred!
Barry Sargeant, chose to intervene in contravention of the concept of Competitive Neutrality because according to him, there was no legislation preventing him from doing so. Moral and ethical issues were of no importance, nor was the financial welfare of other local liquor licencees.
SHIRE OF YORK’S ADMINISTRATIVE INCOMPETENCE
From 2008 the Shire of York had $161,000 worth of its municipal funds stolen and /or fraudulently misappropriated with associated financial liabilities by a Miss Kate Watts through her actions at the York Tourist Information Centre.
The Shire of York had suffered a ‘Defective Administration’ finding by the State Ombudsman because of a lack of required knowledge of some of the important statutes it was mandated to administer, causing financial damage to local businesses.
In late 2012 a Disciplinary Panel of the Department of Local Government was reviewing actions taken by the President and Deputy President of the Shire of York to decide an appropriate penalty for bringing their office into disrepute and bringing into question the Shire’s knowledge and competence in local government statutory rules and regulations regarding Council Meetings. (Subsequently, the Shire President was found guilty.)
Even more to the point:-
a) The Director General’s own staff clearly stated in official correspondence that for a period of nearly twelve (12) months the Shire of York failed to provide sufficiently compelling evidence that it should be granted a Tavern Licence.
b) His staff had to supply the Shire a number of his previous decisions for it, in all probability, to copy.
c) In late October, 2012, the Director General’s staff supplied the Shire a pamphlet, authored by him, on how to apply for the Tavern Licence it had applied for on November 11, 2011.
d) At the same time the Shire was supplied his policy guideline regarding the Public Interest Assessment (PIA) component of its application.
f) The Shire had been warned in November/ December 20, 2012, that it did not meet the standard required regarding the (PIA) in its application of November 11, 2011.
g) The Director General’s staff advised the Shire that it now had the opportunity to lodge further and better particulars, that is, new, improved evidence that the application should be granted in the public interest.
SUMMATION
Despite the fact the Shire of York was responsible for the administration the Tavern Licence, the Director General’s statement was that the matters of incompetence would be more appropriately dealt with by the Department of Local Government, suggesting that Shire Councils administrative deficiencies would not have any detrimental effect on the proper administration of a Tavern Licence.
The Director General claimed his decision was based on his interpretation that ‘the Shire of York is well suited to hold a liquor (Tavern) licence for the proposed licensed premises as it operates under the principles of openness and accountability, acts on behalf of the community as a whole and as a structured financial system in place'.
At one stage the Shire of York claimed that the Department of Racing, Gaming and Liquor had advised it to apply for a Tavern Licence and then told it to request local support for the unspecified liquor licence.
The Shire then claimed it was the objections of several local residents that caused the substantial delay in the granting of the Tavern Licence, not its own incompetent application being on the point of rejection between November 2011 and December 2012.
The Shire, in defending its incompetent actions to the Minister for Local Government, John Castrilli, said that an administrative error occurred while it was following the Liquor Commission of Western Australia’s procedures for handling community objections- which contributed to the delay in the process. (This was a lie. The Shire had failed miserably in providing credible Public Interest Assessments.)
According to records there were only six community objections, the other two were from the WA Police and the WA Health Department (standard procedure) and all but one had been lodged when the supposed community consultative process first began.
Another likely objection was that given the Shire of York requested Tavern Licence trading hours of 94 hours per week and with four other outlets trading in a small community, there was a potential for a combined total of 376 trading hours of serving alcohol or 15.6 days per week. (This is assuming that, to remain competitive, the privately owned licencees had to remain open and provide similar services when they could ill afford to do so.)
The general consensus of the local population at that time was that the YRCC should be granted the type
of liquor licence that best suited the requirements of all the local sporting associations and could accommodate the requirement for alcohol supply to conventions. This would not have been a Tavern Licence.
Given the many administrative malfunctions prevalent within the Shire of York at that time it is hard to imagine that the community was comfortable with the Shire being granted a commercially sensitive licence for any purpose, let alone a Tavern Licence.
Basically, at no time since the YRCC Tavern was opened has this facility complied with the general terms and conditions of its Tavern Licence- being appropriate opening hours that integrate with mandatory food and beverage services.
An overall assessment of the documented evidence is, that at the time of granting of the Tavern Licence, the Shire of York was not a fit and proper government agency to be granted such a licence and that the Director General of Racing, Gaming and Liquor did not undertake a proper assessment of the Shire’s ability to function as a Tavern Licence holder. The ultimate blame rests with Barry Sargeant.
It is now time for the current Shire of York to rectify the situation in the best interest of the York community. That is to have the Tavern Licence revoked and replaced with appropriate licences.
(It should be duly noted that Barry Sargeant, as Director General of Racing, Gaming and Liquor accepted a fully paid trip to Macau from James Packer’s Crown Perth Casino. As a senior government bureaucrat, Sargeant was in breach of the rules regarding acceptance of gifts and hospitality from third-parties with known or perceived commercial interest in racing, gaming and liquor. His trip was approved by the then Minister for Racing, Gaming and Liquor, Terry Waldron, who’s response regarding the question of conflict-of-interest was unintelligible. The actuality was that Sargeant went to Macau to assist in protecting the commercial interests of Crown Perth.
This is just part of the continuing absence of accountability and excess of moral turpitude that the WA public has to put up with from government agencies.) David Taylor.
DECEPTIVE CONDUCT by the Shire of York
First- It was the use of a misleading non- definitive title, Liquor Licence, by the Shire of York to garner additional local community support to be granted a highly definitive Tavern Licence. This- being an act of deliberate omission and deceit.
(The term Liquor Licence includes but is not limited to Tavern Licence. It is a generalization only encompassing all types of liquor licences, from the most restrictive to the least restrictive options.
This occurred nine (9) months after the cut-off date for any objections to a Tavern Licence being granted to the Shire of York, through a letter from the Shire of York, signed by its Chief-Executive Officer, requesting additional local community support for gaining a liquor licence for the YRCC. This was because it had not met its obligations to provide appropriate community responses to its original request for a Tavern Licence.
At this time the Shire chose to use the innocuous, generalized term Liquor Licence, rather than the massively all- encompassing Tavern Licence to define its prior, incompetent application which would have been rejected had it been submitted by a prospective private enterprise licensee. (The intent was to dramatically reduce any objections to the licence application as it believed most of the community was in favour of a form of liquor licence being granted. This should have been an adequate form of Club Licence to the satisfaction of all sporting bodies, the public in general and in the best interest of competitive neutrality with local businesses.
The Director General concluded that as a (and I quote)‘balance of probabilities’ all objections and interventions were with regard to a Tavern Licence only and such a licence would be and was granted. It was highly likely that, Barry Sargeant, was advised by his Minister, Terry Waldron to grant the Tavern Licence just prior to the 2013 State Election to fulfill an overt election promise no matter what.
SHIRE OF YORK’S UNACCEPTABLE LEVEL OF DEBT
The Shire of York already had a substantial, arguably unsustainable, debt on the YRCC development and the Director General was advised of this. Barry Sargeant had no information at his disposal of a commercial/financial nature suggesting that the Shire of York could service the debt through local ratepayer funding or by any other method. In fact all available advice was to the contrary.
In 2008, the official budget estimate was put at $4,386,000 contradicting an industry estimate of in excess of $5 million. The current estimate is between $8 and $12 million, an overly excessive debt.
The fact the Director General found it to be (in his words) inconsequential that a Tavern Licence applicant’s proposed premises was in financial difficulty and this should not preclude the granting of such a licence was appalling economic nonsense and non-accountability at its bureaucratic worst.
It is likely that Barry Sargeant, was advised by his Minister, Terry Waldron to grant the Tavern Licence in a futile attempt to ensure the future financial viability of a project funded by Royalties for Regions
COMPETITIVE NEUTRALITY BETWEEN THE SHIRE OF YORK AND LOCAL BUSINESSES
No government agency should be allowed, under any circumstances, to grant any form of public- commercial licence to another government agency to provide goods and services already available from private enterprise, or that can be provided by private enterprise- other than the supply of public utilities and associated servicing.
No government or its agencies should interfere in a free-market economy unless clearly franchised by electors to do so. This had not occurred!
Barry Sargeant, chose to intervene in contravention of the concept of Competitive Neutrality because according to him, there was no legislation preventing him from doing so. Moral and ethical issues were of no importance, nor was the financial welfare of other local liquor licencees.
SHIRE OF YORK’S ADMINISTRATIVE INCOMPETENCE
From 2008 the Shire of York had $161,000 worth of its municipal funds stolen and /or fraudulently misappropriated with associated financial liabilities by a Miss Kate Watts through her actions at the York Tourist Information Centre.
The Shire of York had suffered a ‘Defective Administration’ finding by the State Ombudsman because of a lack of required knowledge of some of the important statutes it was mandated to administer, causing financial damage to local businesses.
In late 2012 a Disciplinary Panel of the Department of Local Government was reviewing actions taken by the President and Deputy President of the Shire of York to decide an appropriate penalty for bringing their office into disrepute and bringing into question the Shire’s knowledge and competence in local government statutory rules and regulations regarding Council Meetings. (Subsequently, the Shire President was found guilty.)
Even more to the point:-
a) The Director General’s own staff clearly stated in official correspondence that for a period of nearly twelve (12) months the Shire of York failed to provide sufficiently compelling evidence that it should be granted a Tavern Licence.
b) His staff had to supply the Shire a number of his previous decisions for it, in all probability, to copy.
c) In late October, 2012, the Director General’s staff supplied the Shire a pamphlet, authored by him, on how to apply for the Tavern Licence it had applied for on November 11, 2011.
d) At the same time the Shire was supplied his policy guideline regarding the Public Interest Assessment (PIA) component of its application.
f) The Shire had been warned in November/ December 20, 2012, that it did not meet the standard required regarding the (PIA) in its application of November 11, 2011.
g) The Director General’s staff advised the Shire that it now had the opportunity to lodge further and better particulars, that is, new, improved evidence that the application should be granted in the public interest.
SUMMATION
Despite the fact the Shire of York was responsible for the administration the Tavern Licence, the Director General’s statement was that the matters of incompetence would be more appropriately dealt with by the Department of Local Government, suggesting that Shire Councils administrative deficiencies would not have any detrimental effect on the proper administration of a Tavern Licence.
The Director General claimed his decision was based on his interpretation that ‘the Shire of York is well suited to hold a liquor (Tavern) licence for the proposed licensed premises as it operates under the principles of openness and accountability, acts on behalf of the community as a whole and as a structured financial system in place'.
At one stage the Shire of York claimed that the Department of Racing, Gaming and Liquor had advised it to apply for a Tavern Licence and then told it to request local support for the unspecified liquor licence.
The Shire then claimed it was the objections of several local residents that caused the substantial delay in the granting of the Tavern Licence, not its own incompetent application being on the point of rejection between November 2011 and December 2012.
The Shire, in defending its incompetent actions to the Minister for Local Government, John Castrilli, said that an administrative error occurred while it was following the Liquor Commission of Western Australia’s procedures for handling community objections- which contributed to the delay in the process. (This was a lie. The Shire had failed miserably in providing credible Public Interest Assessments.)
According to records there were only six community objections, the other two were from the WA Police and the WA Health Department (standard procedure) and all but one had been lodged when the supposed community consultative process first began.
Another likely objection was that given the Shire of York requested Tavern Licence trading hours of 94 hours per week and with four other outlets trading in a small community, there was a potential for a combined total of 376 trading hours of serving alcohol or 15.6 days per week. (This is assuming that, to remain competitive, the privately owned licencees had to remain open and provide similar services when they could ill afford to do so.)
The general consensus of the local population at that time was that the YRCC should be granted the type
of liquor licence that best suited the requirements of all the local sporting associations and could accommodate the requirement for alcohol supply to conventions. This would not have been a Tavern Licence.
Given the many administrative malfunctions prevalent within the Shire of York at that time it is hard to imagine that the community was comfortable with the Shire being granted a commercially sensitive licence for any purpose, let alone a Tavern Licence.
Basically, at no time since the YRCC Tavern was opened has this facility complied with the general terms and conditions of its Tavern Licence- being appropriate opening hours that integrate with mandatory food and beverage services.
An overall assessment of the documented evidence is, that at the time of granting of the Tavern Licence, the Shire of York was not a fit and proper government agency to be granted such a licence and that the Director General of Racing, Gaming and Liquor did not undertake a proper assessment of the Shire’s ability to function as a Tavern Licence holder. The ultimate blame rests with Barry Sargeant.
It is now time for the current Shire of York to rectify the situation in the best interest of the York community. That is to have the Tavern Licence revoked and replaced with appropriate licences.
Sunday, 15 May 2016
HOLY TWIT!
(A Facebookies long odds on Mamamia’s
re-election chances and those of the YRCC Tavern)
Dearest Constituents- HAVE YOU READ COL’S POLLS & THE YRCC FINANCIALS?
Colin Barnett is apparently as popular as a malaria tablet in a mosquito swarm, a bacon sandwich at an ISIS barbeque and meningitis at Elizabeth Quay Water Park. In fact, right now, he’s the least popular Premier in the whole of Oz.
For eight years some of you silly Sandgroper’s think that he’s been tossing taxpayers bucks around like he’s a local shire council and there’s no tomorrow.
That’s not true. You’ve all been living off the fat of the land. In fact times are so good we’ve had to double the width of the seats at your new Perth Sports Stadium to encompass the luxuriously expensive, expansive spread of your ginormous barge-arses. (And some shire councils have had to double the amount of your rates to compensate for all the good times you’re having.)
Yet you seem to feel there is a poverty stricken tomorrow and the buck should stop with C.B. Just like you may feel the buck stops with the Shire of York regarding its poverty stricken tavern.
Let’s just say that the Shire can forget any attempt at a promotional ditty like “it’s fun to stay at the YRCC” by the ‘Village People’ of York, as it would only strike a very sour note.
Now back to the allegedly empty cupboard. The poor old Treasurer, Mike Nahan, probably wishes he hadn’t given up his US citizenship and has been down at the US Consulate trying to get himself a ‘Green Card’ because you’ve all been so nasty about the up-coming $40 billion debt.
But there’s no truth to the rumour that despite the fact that Col’s superglued himself to the Premier’s chair, the not-so-smiling assassin, Lisa Harvey and Dean Nalder, the one with the large ‘Medicare Gap’ between his teeth, may both wish to un-glue him.
Anyhow- not my problem- my Wheatbix voters. Yet there’s nothing like the smell of a fresh exsanguination when there’s political blood-letting in the air in a coagulating Coalition caused by so many clots.
My political philosophy has always been to use a good hairspray, good makeup, look good, do as little as possible and join as many community groups as you can.
Oh, and I do like spending Royalties for Regions funding on Mr. Barnett’s ‘low hanging fruit’. (I’m hoping he means good grapes for a decent Chardonnay.)
Now, barflies, let’s get down to some tavern talk, pub chat and front bar gossip about the York Re-Creation & Collapsing Centre. If it’s not re-created, it’s going to collapse.
Sorry York Shire, a tavern with a conference room was never going to be a licentious licence to entrap the punters as the main watering-hole and community centre for a SEAVROC dynasty.
What we Nationals gave you was around $ 2 million in Royalties for Regions funds. What you did, I’m told, was serious collateral commercial damage to local businesses and ratepayers by building a rapidly fading faux-crystal chandelier sports temple to socio-economic ignorance.
Not my fault!
Yes we need top quality facilities for sport which is the fabric of rural communities and of course
a team of well-oiled footy players- “Yummmmmmmm girls’. And if you’d let me shake my fab cocktails behind the bar you would have had a conga-line from the YRCC to St. Ronan’s Well. (I was going to send my CV to the YRCC but have thought better of it.)
Unfortunately, despite the fact that the Tavern Licence was arranged as a voter bribe just before the last election by good old Tuck Waldron, the then Minister for Racing and Gaming (and liquor) it’s time to bid farewell.
Yes the Tavern Licence must go or your financial viability will!
No there’s no Royalties for Regions funds or state government handouts as a quick fix and once again, it’s not a Nationals problem even if we did toss you a few bucks to get the calamity on the road and gave you the Tavern licence.(So some tough love is now the only answer.)
When good old Tuck’s liquor licensor, Barry Sargeant, was queried on how come a government agency could be allowed to own a commercial enterprise in competition with privately owned businesses, the answer was there’s no legislation stopping us- so we can.
Barry’s still there despite the fact that he took a three-day trip to Macau paid for by the Crown Perth Casino and the Tavern’s still there despite the Shire’s inability to run it successfully.
So what is Mamamia’s advice to the Shire of York? (Maybe cash-crop the YRCC carpark with medical marijuana- just joshing!)
No- it’s what I say to my staff- you’ve got till the 30th of June or the next election to clear up this mess, whichever comes sooner and- no excuses. I’m sure York’s waiting for the end result of your Major Strategic Review and it better be good.
Now just to show my multiskilling, I’ve written a pome.
It’s sort of like The Destruction of Sennacharib by Lord Thingy-me-bob.
(But about the future of local government in Australia.)
The decision came down like a wolf on the fold
they acted swiftly, the planning was bold
nineteen town councils they did readily smite
nineteen councils disappeared overnight
No choices given to many old towns
their Shires disappeared in the name of the crown.
Dearest Constituents- HAVE YOU READ COL’S POLLS & THE YRCC FINANCIALS?
Colin Barnett is apparently as popular as a malaria tablet in a mosquito swarm, a bacon sandwich at an ISIS barbeque and meningitis at Elizabeth Quay Water Park. In fact, right now, he’s the least popular Premier in the whole of Oz.
For eight years some of you silly Sandgroper’s think that he’s been tossing taxpayers bucks around like he’s a local shire council and there’s no tomorrow.
That’s not true. You’ve all been living off the fat of the land. In fact times are so good we’ve had to double the width of the seats at your new Perth Sports Stadium to encompass the luxuriously expensive, expansive spread of your ginormous barge-arses. (And some shire councils have had to double the amount of your rates to compensate for all the good times you’re having.)
Yet you seem to feel there is a poverty stricken tomorrow and the buck should stop with C.B. Just like you may feel the buck stops with the Shire of York regarding its poverty stricken tavern.
Let’s just say that the Shire can forget any attempt at a promotional ditty like “it’s fun to stay at the YRCC” by the ‘Village People’ of York, as it would only strike a very sour note.
Now back to the allegedly empty cupboard. The poor old Treasurer, Mike Nahan, probably wishes he hadn’t given up his US citizenship and has been down at the US Consulate trying to get himself a ‘Green Card’ because you’ve all been so nasty about the up-coming $40 billion debt.
But there’s no truth to the rumour that despite the fact that Col’s superglued himself to the Premier’s chair, the not-so-smiling assassin, Lisa Harvey and Dean Nalder, the one with the large ‘Medicare Gap’ between his teeth, may both wish to un-glue him.
Anyhow- not my problem- my Wheatbix voters. Yet there’s nothing like the smell of a fresh exsanguination when there’s political blood-letting in the air in a coagulating Coalition caused by so many clots.
My political philosophy has always been to use a good hairspray, good makeup, look good, do as little as possible and join as many community groups as you can.
Oh, and I do like spending Royalties for Regions funding on Mr. Barnett’s ‘low hanging fruit’. (I’m hoping he means good grapes for a decent Chardonnay.)
Now, barflies, let’s get down to some tavern talk, pub chat and front bar gossip about the York Re-Creation & Collapsing Centre. If it’s not re-created, it’s going to collapse.
Sorry York Shire, a tavern with a conference room was never going to be a licentious licence to entrap the punters as the main watering-hole and community centre for a SEAVROC dynasty.
What we Nationals gave you was around $ 2 million in Royalties for Regions funds. What you did, I’m told, was serious collateral commercial damage to local businesses and ratepayers by building a rapidly fading faux-crystal chandelier sports temple to socio-economic ignorance.
Not my fault!
Yes we need top quality facilities for sport which is the fabric of rural communities and of course
a team of well-oiled footy players- “Yummmmmmmm girls’. And if you’d let me shake my fab cocktails behind the bar you would have had a conga-line from the YRCC to St. Ronan’s Well. (I was going to send my CV to the YRCC but have thought better of it.)
Unfortunately, despite the fact that the Tavern Licence was arranged as a voter bribe just before the last election by good old Tuck Waldron, the then Minister for Racing and Gaming (and liquor) it’s time to bid farewell.
Yes the Tavern Licence must go or your financial viability will!
No there’s no Royalties for Regions funds or state government handouts as a quick fix and once again, it’s not a Nationals problem even if we did toss you a few bucks to get the calamity on the road and gave you the Tavern licence.(So some tough love is now the only answer.)
When good old Tuck’s liquor licensor, Barry Sargeant, was queried on how come a government agency could be allowed to own a commercial enterprise in competition with privately owned businesses, the answer was there’s no legislation stopping us- so we can.
Barry’s still there despite the fact that he took a three-day trip to Macau paid for by the Crown Perth Casino and the Tavern’s still there despite the Shire’s inability to run it successfully.
So what is Mamamia’s advice to the Shire of York? (Maybe cash-crop the YRCC carpark with medical marijuana- just joshing!)
No- it’s what I say to my staff- you’ve got till the 30th of June or the next election to clear up this mess, whichever comes sooner and- no excuses. I’m sure York’s waiting for the end result of your Major Strategic Review and it better be good.
Now just to show my multiskilling, I’ve written a pome.
It’s sort of like The Destruction of Sennacharib by Lord Thingy-me-bob.
(But about the future of local government in Australia.)
The decision came down like a wolf on the fold
they acted swiftly, the planning was bold
nineteen town councils they did readily smite
nineteen councils disappeared overnight
No choices given to many old towns
their Shires disappeared in the name of the crown.
The NSW Government decided to choose
Local Government the victim, nineteen councils’ did lose
too many council’s all over Australia
much too much funding and too many failures.
The coffers are baron, unlike in the past
so many more councils will be unable to last.
These are bad tidings, bearing grief and dismay
reductions must happen in WA
the last bastion, council numbers are greater
shires removed from the map, much sooner than later
amid crisis in funding, fusion, merger, blend talk
is one shire oft mentioned, the old Shire of York?
Local Government the victim, nineteen councils’ did lose
too many council’s all over Australia
much too much funding and too many failures.
The coffers are baron, unlike in the past
so many more councils will be unable to last.
These are bad tidings, bearing grief and dismay
reductions must happen in WA
the last bastion, council numbers are greater
shires removed from the map, much sooner than later
amid crisis in funding, fusion, merger, blend talk
is one shire oft mentioned, the old Shire of York?
COPYRIGHT
LORD BYRON & MAMAMIA DAVIES MP/MD (that’s my initials, I’m not a Doctor.)
Tuesday, 10 May 2016
HERE COMES A TWIT! (And a face-to-face Facebooking with Mamamia.)
Greetings Voters
There’s chaos on Capitol Hill,
The Premier’s spending $80,000 on a new memorial to his greatness at Parliament House. It’s called Barnett’s Burger-Grill and Karaoke Bar.
I’ll sing my favourite “It’s Raining Men’ to the cheers of the Coalition and the jeers of Mark McGowan’s mob. They’re a tough audience.
A few weeks ago the Premier visited York with his Minister for Tourism tee-shirt on. Now he’s working out how to promote York’s rubbish dump as a visit to ‘SITARAMA-WORLD’ (the tip trip of a lifetime).
There’s chaos on Capitol Hill,
The Premier’s spending $80,000 on a new memorial to his greatness at Parliament House. It’s called Barnett’s Burger-Grill and Karaoke Bar.
I’ll sing my favourite “It’s Raining Men’ to the cheers of the Coalition and the jeers of Mark McGowan’s mob. They’re a tough audience.
A few weeks ago the Premier visited York with his Minister for Tourism tee-shirt on. Now he’s working out how to promote York’s rubbish dump as a visit to ‘SITARAMA-WORLD’ (the tip trip of a lifetime).
Also, how to stop a tourist bus from getting
embedded in a tree trunk along the Great Southern Laneway after narrowly
avoiding a collision with a Sitarama dump truck.
Using his Mandarin name of Col Bar Nett, the Premier recently visited China………..that’s China Town, Perth, to announce a $30 million funding for Perth Events only.
Therefore York’s exciting events will continue to be watching the sun rise and then set 11 hours later.
The CEO of Tourism Western Australia, Stephanie Buckland, was an architect of ‘Experience Perth’ (but don’t go anywhere else because you’ll get lost and Perth’s Parmelia Hilton Hotel won’t be able to trash your Amex.)
Now she’s pulled the pin, preferring to deal with people with dementia, instead of politicians.
It’s rather sad really. Another four of the Premier’s advisory team have jumped ship and disappeared over the Rabbit Proof Fence. Maybe it’s his deodorant?
How’s this for local government transparency. The Mayor of Perth, Lisa Scaffidi will have to sit before SAT (then roll over and pretend to play dead). We can all rely on the honesty, integrity and probity of SAT and a spanking with a feather duster.
Now what have I been up to- you ask nicely? Well, there’s ..............................and........... .................... of course………………..that includes…………………………a low hanging fruit pluck…………...then I’ll ..................... dollars ........................... in my electorate.
Using his Mandarin name of Col Bar Nett, the Premier recently visited China………..that’s China Town, Perth, to announce a $30 million funding for Perth Events only.
Therefore York’s exciting events will continue to be watching the sun rise and then set 11 hours later.
The CEO of Tourism Western Australia, Stephanie Buckland, was an architect of ‘Experience Perth’ (but don’t go anywhere else because you’ll get lost and Perth’s Parmelia Hilton Hotel won’t be able to trash your Amex.)
Now she’s pulled the pin, preferring to deal with people with dementia, instead of politicians.
It’s rather sad really. Another four of the Premier’s advisory team have jumped ship and disappeared over the Rabbit Proof Fence. Maybe it’s his deodorant?
How’s this for local government transparency. The Mayor of Perth, Lisa Scaffidi will have to sit before SAT (then roll over and pretend to play dead). We can all rely on the honesty, integrity and probity of SAT and a spanking with a feather duster.
Now what have I been up to- you ask nicely? Well, there’s ..............................and........... .................... of course………………..that includes…………………………a low hanging fruit pluck…………...then I’ll ..................... dollars ........................... in my electorate.
I’m no longer mother of my own press releases and I’m not happy about that Jan!
They have to be co-authored by Barnett, Nahan, Holt, Redman and anyone else who
can spell their own name.
Now here’s a bit of ‘Hot-Goss’! The West Australian Newspaper has been ringing up all its home delivery subscribers asking them if they’ve got a computer, iPhone or tablet.
You can bet your empty letter box that in the near future your cocky will be tearing his feathers out because he can’t read the cartoons on the bottom of his cage and it will be a lot harder to light the fire.
Not only will you be getting a newspaper without news, and paper, you will have to pay an online
subscription fee to “The West” and also to your own internet service provider, if you’re lucky enough to have one.
Or you can watch Channel 7’s new epic, ‘Kiss, Bang, Love’ where two contestants, wearing blindfolds, stick their tongues down each-other’s throats instead. I can hardly wait!
Now if you see me wandering along, slightly lost, please return me to my electorate of Central, Hay, Barley, Oats, Canola………..ahhhh………….something with a Belt in it?
THE ADDRESSES ARE C/O THE OLD TOWN HALL, MITCHELL STREET, MERREDIN WA 6415, or NORTHAM BOULEVARD, FITZGERALD STREET NORTHAM WA 6401. A SUBSTANTIAL REWARD IS OFFERED.
Now here’s a bit of ‘Hot-Goss’! The West Australian Newspaper has been ringing up all its home delivery subscribers asking them if they’ve got a computer, iPhone or tablet.
You can bet your empty letter box that in the near future your cocky will be tearing his feathers out because he can’t read the cartoons on the bottom of his cage and it will be a lot harder to light the fire.
Not only will you be getting a newspaper without news, and paper, you will have to pay an online
subscription fee to “The West” and also to your own internet service provider, if you’re lucky enough to have one.
Or you can watch Channel 7’s new epic, ‘Kiss, Bang, Love’ where two contestants, wearing blindfolds, stick their tongues down each-other’s throats instead. I can hardly wait!
Now if you see me wandering along, slightly lost, please return me to my electorate of Central, Hay, Barley, Oats, Canola………..ahhhh………….something with a Belt in it?
THE ADDRESSES ARE C/O THE OLD TOWN HALL, MITCHELL STREET, MERREDIN WA 6415, or NORTHAM BOULEVARD, FITZGERALD STREET NORTHAM WA 6401. A SUBSTANTIAL REWARD IS OFFERED.
Monday, 2 May 2016
FROM THE GAY NEWS NETWORK
To
TREVOR RANDELL
Councillor
Shire of York.
RE: - Your Correspondence of September 27, 2015.
Trevor Dearest,
Firstly, please accept our apologies for not responding to your he-mail sooner.
You raised the issue that you were being targeted by ‘Rednecks’ because you are ‘Gay’ and you wish to be a Shire of York Councillor.
Our information is that you have already been a Councillor and that you were personally involved in targeting a female Councillor with misogynist, derogatory remarks.
We also believe this behaviour is on public record!
We have been made aware that you were successful in being erected despite being ‘Gay’ and being allegedly targeted by suggested homophobic ‘Rednecks’ on a local social media site.
You complain that this site published, possibly compromising, easily accessible images of yourself and your partner that you broadcast to everyone on social media.
Whether you are homosexual, transsexual or heterosexual we suggest you do not publish photographic images of yourself that may be offensive to others on a social media site. This obviously assumes you are ‘Gay’ not stupid.
The term ‘Gay’ used in the modern context is not derogatory, however the term ‘Redneck’ is.
In Australia, it means a Bogan, a poorly educated and vulgar person. In the United States it means poor white male trash.
Accusing anyone of being uneducated and vulgar is derogatory. Accusing someone of being poor white male trash is both sexist and racist.
Which of these two descriptions do you prefer?
Thank you for contacting The Gay News Network.
to Gay News Network
"Thought you would be interested to know I have been targeted as I'm going up for councillor on the York Shire Council. Rednecks here have started a blog which it prints two photos of my partner and myself and is obviously targeting the fact I am gay so I have lower morals. What do you think?"
http://shireofyork6302.blogspot.com.au/2015/09/et-tu-trevor.html
Trevor Randell
TREVOR RANDELL
Councillor
Shire of York.
RE: - Your Correspondence of September 27, 2015.
Trevor Dearest,
Firstly, please accept our apologies for not responding to your he-mail sooner.
You raised the issue that you were being targeted by ‘Rednecks’ because you are ‘Gay’ and you wish to be a Shire of York Councillor.
Our information is that you have already been a Councillor and that you were personally involved in targeting a female Councillor with misogynist, derogatory remarks.
We also believe this behaviour is on public record!
We have been made aware that you were successful in being erected despite being ‘Gay’ and being allegedly targeted by suggested homophobic ‘Rednecks’ on a local social media site.
You complain that this site published, possibly compromising, easily accessible images of yourself and your partner that you broadcast to everyone on social media.
Whether you are homosexual, transsexual or heterosexual we suggest you do not publish photographic images of yourself that may be offensive to others on a social media site. This obviously assumes you are ‘Gay’ not stupid.
The term ‘Gay’ used in the modern context is not derogatory, however the term ‘Redneck’ is.
In Australia, it means a Bogan, a poorly educated and vulgar person. In the United States it means poor white male trash.
Accusing anyone of being uneducated and vulgar is derogatory. Accusing someone of being poor white male trash is both sexist and racist.
Which of these two descriptions do you prefer?
Thank you for contacting The Gay News Network.
*******
to Gay News Network
"Thought you would be interested to know I have been targeted as I'm going up for councillor on the York Shire Council. Rednecks here have started a blog which it prints two photos of my partner and myself and is obviously targeting the fact I am gay so I have lower morals. What do you think?"
http://shireofyork6302.blogspot.com.au/2015/09/et-tu-trevor.html
Trevor Randell
SHIRE OF YORK UNOFFICIAL SITE ‘EXCLUSIVE’
THE
WEST AUSTRALIAN NEWSPAPERS DARK SECRETS REVEALED
‘The West Australian’
(from riches to a rag)
Rural and Regional West Australians deserve better than the pap their daily newspaper serves up.
This now city-centric, populist newspaper representing the Perth masses has a care factor next to zilch where country folk are concerned. Since December, 2014, it is no longer circulated to Remote Area communities north of Broome because it cost too much to deliver.
Less than four decades ago it was a different story. The West Australian had its journalists stationed in major towns throughout WA and paid correspondents in others. It had dedicated journalists such as, Michael Zekulich, who covered major developments in rural industries as a permanent ‘roundsman’ and news-teams continuously patrolling the state to gather positive stories from Rural, Regional and Remote WA.
It was considered to be the ‘newspaper of record’ for the ‘ENTIRE STATE’ by the J.S Battye Library and the State Archive of Western Australia. (A newspaper to be proud of.)
Then Alan Bond acquired the paper through Bell Resources and (allegedly) cleaned out the tills to pay his lawyers to keep him out of jail. They failed!
The use of Bell Resources, including The West Australian, by Alan Bond as a piggy-bank to the tune of $1.2 billion was the BIGGEST FRAUD in Australian corporate history.
How a newspaper that is supposed to uncover and publically expose fraud and corruption, allowed itself to be the target of such a monstrous scam is beyond belief.
David Aspinall, the then boss of Chanel 7, who had taken over Bond’s media interests, claimed in court that he knew all about the fiscal pillaging and tried desperately to get some of the money back into the newspapers’ coffers.
It beggars belief that The West Australian’s Editorial Executives Bob Cronin and Don Baker either did not know or chose to ignore that the paper they published was being ripped-off to the max.
(There appears to be no record of the newspaper publishing anything about the fraud going on under its very nose while it was going on.)
Since then Don Baker has disappeared back to the Eastern States and Bob Cronin is the Editor-in-Chief of West Australian Newspapers.
Having returned to West Australian Newspapers in 1990, I received a ranting phone call from David Aspinall regarding the delineation of copyright between journalists, photographers and newspaper proprietors.
Aspinall thought it would be another issue that the newspaper could not afford as it was a potentially expensive legal process with the possibility of industrial action being instigated by the then Australian Journalists Association.
Bob Cronin knew all about this phone call, he knew about ‘The West’s’ parlous financial state and appeared to do nothing to expose the fraud being perpetrated on his own newspaper.
In the early 1990’s the paper was put in receivership to the R&I Bank and since digging itself out of that huge hole it has mainly had publishers who publish in their own interest and the interest of their shareholders only.
Fifteen years ago it had an average daily circulation of 200,000 and could have bought The Age
newspaper from John Fairfax. Now Ray Morgan Research credits it with an online and print readership of just 50,000 per day and it could not even buy the ’York Community Matters’.
In the late 90’s ‘The West’s’ share price was north of $15, now its south of $5 per share.
Less than a decade ago, the then Editor, Paul Armstrong, came out with the concise public statement that he ‘could not give a fat rat’s arse’ about opinions. This attitude has carried on with particular emphasis on anywhere outside the metropolitan area.
Last Friday, April 29, 2015, the Avon Valley Residents Association met with the Premier, Colin Barnett, in York. The purpose was to discuss a waste dump, containing blue asbestos residue, on pristine farmland, in a water catchment area near York.
The Premier conceded that the environment assessment of the SITA proposal could have been more stringent and the proposed route, the Great Southern Highway, was not in good shape to accommodate an increase in road train traffic. These could both be taken as the understatements of this millennium.
Was there a ‘West’ reporter there? No!
Could the ‘West’ and its current Editor, Brett McCarthy give ‘a fat rat’s arse’? No they would not!
Twenty-five years ago The West Australian ran a successful scare-mongering campaign against the Perth Daily News, claiming it would default on its creditors and not fulfil its contractual obligations to its advertisers. At that time ‘The Daily News’ had a circulation greater than The West Australian’s is today and (you guessed it) owed ‘The West’ $15 million in unpaid printing costs.
‘The West’s’ covert chicanery left it as Perth’s only daily newspaper, yet it has still stuffed it up despite now having nearly double the population to coerce into readers.
At one stage there appeared to be the possibility that the Daily News would return to WA Newspapers as it had been between 1950 and 1987.
Many believe that Bob Baxt, the Chairman of the Trade Practices Commission was the culprit by refusing to allow this to happen.
Yet there is another very plausible theory. WA Newspapers Editor-in-Chief, Bob Cronin, chose a Sub-Editor to promote and organize any integration of The Daily News back into the fold. This person had none of the skills required to undertake such a task.
It is highly likely that WA Newspapers hierarchy preferred the Daily News be liquidated because, as a major creditor, and broke itself, it wanted some of its $15 million printing debt back- and could not afford to take back the Daily News. (Only five staff from the Daily News were employed
or re-employed by The West.)
To cap everything off in its 20-year slide to mediocrity (and that is way too kind an assessment) there have been fifty-five redundancies in ‘The West’s’ editorial departments since 2009.
It now runs on ‘The Smell of an Oily Rag’- and it shows.
David Taylor.
LET’S TWIT AGAIN. (There’s a merry din in Merredin and we’re hamming it up in Northam)
Media mediocrity is a virtue Voters
That old Nationals Rooster, Joh Bjelke Petersen used to say he was ‘off to feed the chooks’ meaning his pen-pals the ‘Press’. Particularly when he’d been caught tearing open paper bags full of dodgy cash from Queensland’s ‘White Shoe Brigade’.
He wasn’t being endearing, he felt the press were stupid and he could feed them stool on a stick.
Some say The West Australian journos are more like quail, you need much less lashings of stool and just a teeny twig! (I’m not talking the stool you sit on here, but the word does rhyme with ‘sit’.)
How dare they say that about my quail!
Mamamia loves her quail, they always make her look good in a hard hat, never mention Barbie Dolls, never ask about her allowing asbestos to be dumped in a water catchment area in her electorate and where all those paper bags full of Royalty for Regions slush funds have disappeared.
AND-I just love the way they headline ‘Exclusive’ on every little publicity hand-out they get from Sue Murphy at the Water Corporation such as ’Exclusive’ ‘Perth’s water use plummets’ on page 1, Wednesday April 27 edition and how they exclusively exclude any reference to Rural, Regional and Remote WA. (Sorry ‘The West’ doesn’t do ‘Remote’ anymore!)
The punters think journos have been sneaking through rubbish bins as good investigative journalists should- when all that happens is that a ‘Press Release’ pops up on a computer on the Chief of Staff’s desk.
Obviously my ‘Water Nymphs’ claim that all the ‘plummeting’ is because of our magnificent, hard-hitting ‘Whatever you do, just drop two’ (but not your daks in the shower) Waterwise campaign.
Yet what’s really been plummeting over the past year is the WA economy and thousands upon thousands now carefully watch their water bills, not for water conservation reasons, but for budgetary self-preservation.
I must admit that Daniel someone-or-other who wrote the story was a tad cheeky for a quail. She asked me, Mamamia, the Goddess of CO2, had me, myself, I been complacent in water management? I said of course not, we’ve spent $2 billion developing climate-resilient sources such as desalination plants.
The silly little chook, sorry quail, didn’t seem to cotton-on that $1.4 billion of that $2 billion was spent long before I became the Goddess, (sorry) Water Minister. (That was a big let off that I expect from my quail!)
She could have also been kind enough to mention that 300,000 million Indian’s currently do not have a drop-to-drink because of drought. That pales our little 2.8 million population water shortage problem into insignificance, doesn’t it?
It would appear that some of the Premier’s former cronies, like Rob Johnson, may now think that Col. Barnett is becoming a bit of a ‘Mister Wobbly Helmet’ and a Colon rather than a Colin.
He’s been rabbiting on about how he is becoming a Liberal Party Deity, ‘low hanging fruit’ has all been picked, the state ‘is not on the bones of its bum’, he wants to use Royalties for Regions for ‘the real stuff’ and what he is doing would ‘ look very sensible’ not just sensible when a budget surplus returns.
Many are starting to think that that surplus may not return in your political lifetime Col. ‘Old boy’or the year 2090, whichever comes sooner.
Last week the Premier, like the Treasurer, snuck up the back alley into my York, the place I just love to little itsy-bitsy pieces.
He’s been discussing the Sacred SITA Rubbish Tip Site with my beloved constituents without my astute and highly valued input as someone who knows everything about CO2 (and I do give a ‘rat’s’).
Nice one Col!
TO OFFER YOUR CONDOLENCES TO ME- PLEASE DO NOT HESITATE TO CALL MAMAMIA ON 9041 1702 (MERREDIN OFFICE) 9622 2871 (NORTHAM OFFICE) or email mia.davies@mp.wa.gov.au .
(If sending flowers?-I love roses and carnations.)
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