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 fiancée- 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.