There's a blog write up from November 2021. It follows a long push from many over a very long time to get Tier 3 repaired & rebuilt. It also remains fact that many of these people pushing for rebuilding the Tier 3 Rail lines by pressing political parties to get on board & make this a part of their policy platform.
The WA Nationals passed a motion at the 2021 State Conference to support the rebuilding of the Tier 3 rail lines. The original motion read...
"That this State Convention of The Nationals WA calls on the State and
Federal Governments to rebuild the major Tier 3 rail lines in WA.".
I am advised it was not amended & it was passed.
So where is the Private Members Bill?
I know there's a lot going on, but you'd think someone in the grain areas might at least put their hand up & tell WA Grain growers "I will put forward a private member's bill by..."
In discussions over there years to try & get this up and running I was told in a kinda gas lighting style "Oh it's a bit more complicated than you think. A lot of nuance in it, it's not somethign we're against it's just unworkable to pursue it due to all the complexity"
Same MP years later, at last years State Conference didn't speak against it & I'm told didn't vote against it.
Now the political dance begins, well it should but right now, it very much seems it's shelved now in a deep, dark bunker, on a dusty shelf, below a back room with the custodians or those who should be pushing it in parliament hoping it will be forgotten. Or at best they only get to decide what priorities are or what plans are with each passed motion. The ether is thick with many100s of motions on policy matters passed & routinely ignored.
You pass a motion.
You refer to a few for a timeline plan
You Plan, Act, Review & where needed 'repeat cycle' and routinely report the status & progress to the lay-members so if/when needed the lay members can remove it from the list if things change.
Instead MPs rule the roost, they decide what they act upon, what they plan upon, what they report upon. They go to annual conferences, do the token gloat & buff, sprinkle glitter on the vineer, listen to the token engagement, attend the glitzy suit & gown dinner and then...walk away not worrying about outcomes decided.
One MP also told me "Look its just about engagement, let people feel involved, it doesn't mean anything"
Why did he end up saying this? Because I was livid about a motion being changed & then lost.
It was when a good motion from a branch was amended BEFORE the Conference, presented to the Conference, the branch was never involved nor consulted & the original intent of the original motion was completely missed and thankfully the mangulated motion was lost.
It was to make push for signs on over taking lanes directing people in the left lane to slow down to 90km/h & stay in the left lane unless overtaking.
It was mangulated & not sure anyone voted for the totally new & wrong motion.
Now many fear Tier 3 has been passed as a Party Motion after years of MP opposition or indifference and now it might go into the dust of the ether.
Passed at Conference, fob off any queries where its at.
Again should be...
You pass a motion.
You refer to a few for a timeline plan
You Plan, Act, Review & where needed 'repeat cycle' and routinely report the status & progress to the lay-members so if/when needed the lay members can remove it from the list if things change.
In organised companies boards have Action Statements are essential & standard.
A matter is decided, its date recorded, person/s are listed as the responsible people, status is recorded & updated & when completed its removed. That way people know a matter is being attended to & progress is being made & people put in the required effort. Just saying.
My concern is Labor will say "You Liberals & Nationals killed it, its your fault, you destroyed it for country people"
And yet, Labor has been in power several times since it was dismantled and as pro Tier 3 as they pretended to be, they never ever did anything to reverese and fix what they so loudly opposed.
Now they have the chance seeing Nats support it, although they don't need Nats because WA Labor has the full control of both houses of parliament. This is a simple thing, what are they waiting for.
Liberals & Nationals will have to swallow their pride & look at this as a point of ensuring the future of grain growing. Is it anti Conservative values? No not really. State Agreements are a perfect example of producing benefits to get an industry up & keeping it going.
They can do this.
Will they do this?
A private members bill can start anytime now. Who will do it first?
Labor?
Liberal?
WA Nationals?
Non major parties?
Gotta a guess, I think a miracle is needed.
With Tier 3 here is the thing, people will argue but when it was shot in the neck, it was a Conservative Government that did it. It was the then opposition spokesperson Alannah McTiernan who loudly opposed it. I sat in a meeting with the then Minister Murray Criddle, opposition spokesperson Alannah McTiernan, 3 members of the Pastoralist & Graziers Association, 2 Union members, a husband & wife grain growers delivering to wheat bins on a Tier 3 line & myself.
That was it. That was the entire attendance of a public meeting.
The 3 PGA chaps were not well organised and rattled off wagon stats they actually didn't understand & everything they brought up was muddled up. The locally based train driver/union members sat silent execpt when asked if Unions had been consulted they said no. Whether further up the union chain had been we'll never know.
The couple sat silent & did comment about what this would do to costs & efficiencies and it was put that "you the grain growers..." will be the greatest beneficiaries. That it would lower handling costs to the CBH & therefore to growers. But again that was a completely unsupported pronouncement. Nothing was on offer to prove, back or suggest that.
Mr Criddle was among the era of when Nationals MPs who were regarded as Liberal MPs with different colours.
Not Mr Criddle but another Nats MP who had been Agriculture Minister in the same era was asked at a public meeting "On what issue or matter would you cross the floor as a Minister in the best interests of Regional WA or your electorate?"
Paraphrasing the reply was 'I feel more change can be achieved within cabinet not leaving it and we are makign great changes within cabinet when we prosecute the case which best represent regional Western Australians, Agriculture & the entire state"
In other words, "NONE, I DON'T WANT TO LEAVE CABINET, I DON'T WANT TO GO TO THE BACK BENCH ON A LOWER SALARY WITH A MUCH LOWER EXPENSES & ALLOWANCES PACKAGE, LESS STAFF, LESS TRAVEL, LESS CHARTERED PLANE USE...I DON'T THINK CHOOSING A HILL TO DIE ON IS PERSONALLY A GOOD OPTION"
And this is the problem. We do not have a parliament where its Real Conservatives vs Wise Progressives. We have quite a number of people not really fit for office. People who are there to restructure their finances, have a lofty career to replaced the failed and/or stagnant one they were on prior to politics & some just there to get attention whilst securing a good retirement package and the possibility of having a suite of Director positions on offer after politics.
Considering some MPs I know of are already Shadow Directors/DeFacto Directors then I'd be very careful who you engage as a director if they're an ex-Politician. Most use their "links to Cabinet and sitting members" as their trump card to a board seat.
Some I would not leave in charge of a disconnected tap & before you jump to the conclusion I'm talking pure corruption...
And it will be covered with a thick vineer of bulldust, glitter, tactical replies, profoundly vague..."full of sound and fury, signifying nothing"
No comments:
Post a Comment