A SECOND OPEN LETTER TO COMMISSIONER JAMES BEST

Dear James,

I trust you enjoyed your moment in the spotlight at the Australia Day Breakfast in Avon Park.

In your speech, you regretted the use of social media to broadcast negative comments on local events.  It’s possible you were referring to this blog.

At some point during the festivities you told a distinguished-looking elderly gentleman that what I’d said about you and the blog in my previous open letter was wrong. 

I made three such statements in the letter, based on information supplied by usually unimpeachable sources. 

I said you had asked people who was behind the blog.

I said that you, the Minister and your DLGC associates were aggrieved by the blog’s contents.  

I said you had said that for the Minister to restore rule by our elected council would depend on the blog being closed down.  (In fact what I was told was that you had given that advice to our councillors.)

I went on to express my disbelief that you had said any such thing, but in case you had, I gave three reasons why you shouldn’t have.

I confess to having been carried away by my enthusiasm for what little remains of freedom of speech in Australia since the fog of political correctness descended upon us all.

Now, exactly what did I say that was wrong?

My shadowy colleague, the blog moderator, has asked me to offer you the hospitality of these pages to respond to my letters or any other item on the blog that annoys you or takes your fancy.  

The moderator doesn’t want people to think that the blog is open only to supporters of Cr Reid.  The trouble is, most York residents do support Cr Reid, so it’s hardly surprising that postings on the blog are overwhelmingly opposed to the suspension of the council and by extension, to your appointment as commissioner.

You might like to use the blog to answer the following questions:

1.            Why did the Minister ignore the shire council’s refutation of the accusations contained in his ‘show cause’ notice?

2.            Why didn’t he accept the council’s offer to undergo training while remaining in office?

3.            Why won’t he explain or discuss the basis of his decision?

4.            Why did the DLGC come down hard on Matthew Reid, who had done nothing wrong, after having failed for years to act decisively against Cr Reid’s vaingloriously incompetent predecessors and their ‘grey eminence’, ex-CEO Hooper?

5.            Why are the Minister and his department so determined to protect from public scrutiny councillors and council staff in York alleged to have carried out immoral, illegal, and possibly criminal acts going back several years?

6.            Has the Minister allowed party political considerations—for example, the political affiliations of persons mentioned unfavourably in the Fitz Gerald Report—to influence his refusal to authorise an inquiry, as requested by the council before he suspended it?

7.            How much will your presence here cost the shire—or is the WA government footing the bill?

Please don’t tell me to ask the Minister directly.  I’m beginning to wonder if he would be able to understand the questions, let alone answer them.

 ‘Social media is a kind of electronic graffiti.’  Hon. Tony Abbott MHR, Prime Minister, Australia Day 2015.

Sincerely,

James