There's been a few broken promises & backflips and we're not even into the first year of this Labor Govn in WA. There's a growing belief that Mark McGowan's team had a bit of a plan to win the very unlosable election, but very little idea on how to actually govern fairly & responsibly. They look very qualified to be a good opposition, but bit clueless on running a government. After 12 months they can't keep blaming the Liberals & Nationals for everything. Said they'd "Fix The Mess"...
At a guess the next back flip will be Moora Residential College. Its closure will seriously disadvantage rural students. There's a disputed figure of $8+ Million required to keep it open. One other suggested figure is however between $500,000 & 600,000. WALabor Government is spending Millions more than that on Performing Arts Centres at just 2 schools in Perth.
After that, probably the less covered pending back flip, the Firearms Transportation Issue.
Here's the background.
1) Australia Post has always transported firearms via the post. They still do it through out the country.
2) Australia Post don't know which parcels contain firearms. This is good. We want this as its how it stays secure. They're not meant to know what's in a parcel. If it's generic kitchen forks or a rifle is none of their business and for security, you don't want ANYONE knowing what's in the parcel. You want electronic tracking and point of exchange data entry so you can track your kitchen forks, garden forks or long arm where ever it is in transit.
3) Aust Post are Commonwealth Employees. Their facilities are Commonwealth facilities. If you rob one, its a Federal offence. A state employee cannot impose bogus regulation upon the Commonwealth sphere. Just cannot. This is what's being bluffed through, right now.
4) The "approved carrier" line in the WA Legislation might be fine, but the legislation also states "by post" which somehow, according to some WA Bureaucrats doesn't include the Australia Wide Postal Service, the federally run Australia Post. Now it means selected couriers. Of which there were supposed to be over a dozen. The two to Albany, one only goes to Perth once a month & the other doesn't want to touch firearms now because it's "hassle". The current courier system means that more than a few hundred kilometres out of Perth the freight becomes greater than the cost of the firearm. Its putting regional businesses out of business...all the while its not solving a problem, its creating them. Its not a response to wide spread theft via Aust Post because only WA Police Bureaucrats have actually taken this action.
5) Approved Carriers will need 2 locked boxes on board. One for firearms & one for ammunition. Now this is absurd. Firearms are not classed as dangerous goods & if they're not identified on the outside as a firearm they're better off. Ammunition? Well that's classed (quite rightly) as a Dangerous Good so why would Aust Post (who will not transport Dangerous Goods) need to be fitted with it? Now it gets worse. WAPolice will require all staff to know what they're carrying under the new criteria as "approved carriers"...which will include a very large number of private contractors who deliver mail...they'll all have to have 2 locked boxes, one of which they can guarantee they'll never use. They don't handle ammunition...gotta have the box for it though. Strangely its argued that baggage handlers at airports are not approved carriers nor trained, nor hold accreditation. It was pointed out they're federal employees on Commonwealth sites.
Well NO actually. Only 3 commonwealth airports & they're military. The Perth Airport is run & operated by private corporations, not Commonwealth employees. Baggage handlers are not commonwealth employees. So a baggage handler can legally handle baggage including a firearm no worries at all & they're not "approved carriers". Property of shooting teams, recreational hunters, pest controllers, private persons going about their lawful business. But NOT Aust Post?
6) 20 rural & regional small businesses in WA buy & sell firearms. One is 100kms from Carnarvon. 2 firearms that went missing in the new "approved carrier" system, missing since May 2017 finally showed up & receipt took place in Jan 2018. The same dealer has 6 firearms already sold, but he can't get them. 2 reasons. The approved carrier for his area doesn't actually deliver to his premises. The cost of getting them delivered by "approved carrier" to his customers is now far greater than the cost of the actual firearms. Purchasers now see its a hassle, but its cheaper to drive to Perth to buy & pick up firearms. People are beginning to not buy off regional businesses. Perth businesses are losing trade too, but they have a huge advantage over the rural & regionals businesses, some already closing down.
Here's the thing, living in Albany I can actually legally buy a firearm off a dealer in Broome. He/she might not even have the firearm delivered to their premises. They might purchase it out of Queensland, once all paper work is approved all boxes ticked they can arrange to have the firearm delivered by Aust Post directly to me...without it going to Broome, coming straight from Queensland at an affordable rate.
That's doable right now...in every state of Australia. Except WA according the Senior Bureaucrats.
In fact funny thing is, there is absolutely no law broken if this even happened in WA RIGHT NOW. Aust Post is Commonwealth, its allowable under Commonwealth law. The Firearm's supplier in Queensland is not breaking the law in Queensland by posting them, Australia Post isn't breaking the law and me walking onto Commonwealth land (post office) and receiving my lawfully owned firearm via the post, not a crime either. I walk out the door onto WA soil, I'm in possession of my lawfully owned firearm.
So who's stopping firearms going through the post?
The Senior Bureaucrats. It may get some remedied soon. The WA Firearms Traders Assoc., The Sporting Shooters Association of Australia, Shooters Fishers & Farmers Party, One Nation Party, Liberal Democrat and the NationalsWA are now all over this.
Its high ranking absurdity where bureaucrats have grossly overstepped their positions and trying to not only bluff to breach & side step state Legislation, they're trying to invoke it on a federal instrument that operate 100% legally (as well as very safely and effectively in the Commonwealth Sphere right across the country).
And what's happening now?
WAPolice bureaucrats are running the mad house & the Police Minister is now beginning to learn about it. Watch for her response because you'll have heard none from Regional Labor MPs.
The rest of the Government is out to lunch back flipping on stadium seats
When there's sovereign over reach its an incredibly serious matter of State abuse of power.
Now that's big, so lets repeat that in bolder lettering...
When there's sovereign over reach its a serious matter of State abuse of power.
We have that now. Be very concerned, be very afraid.
Watch the WA Labor response. A back flip here is the only solution otherwise the signal is very clear. Meanwhile 20 RURAL BUSINESSES ARE UNDER THE PUMP & SOME ARE GOING OUT OF BUSINESS. (MORE JOBS SAYS LABOR)
BUREAUCRATS CANNOT SIDE STEP & IGNORE LEGISLATION AND PRESSURISE FEDERAL INSTRUMENTS OUTSIDE STATE LEGISLATION.
One word... Mugabe (but with less killing)
Wednesday 24 January 2018
Friday 12 January 2018
Imagine this - WALabor Government is in BIG need of a good news story. They've had more backflips than the Olympics, more fails than snowflake in hell. SO dear old Lisa Baker comes up with this pearler. And Pearler it is because who dislikes improving the environment. Who doesn't love rivers, wetlands and the like?
No one.
Now with all the current swirl of ka-ka with WALabor looking far more like the PerthLabor Government I had to ask the question...
"Are any of the recipients outside the Perth Metro Area? Most rivers are..."
And this is 100% true, there are many many more times the river miles outside the Metro area than in it. In fact most rural shires have nearly the same or more.
Of course, when we look at areas with Rivers & Wetlands with the most amount of Labor voters, Greens voters or potential voters of either...well yes THEN we're looking at the metro area.
So it was a fair question to ask just to see if Labor is sticking to its core values of being fair or just sloppy lazy pork barrelling at the expense of others, hang all the fairness bollocks.
Now as you can see, Lisa Baker replies "Hi Peter. All details in the link - some fantastic regional projects have received funding"
Well so we did as she suggested, we clicked the link and below are the recipients on the Community Rivercare Program - Updated on 12th of Jan 2017 (same day the twitter posts were made)
Scroll through them all and see who was successful in "Round One" of the funding.
Baigup Wetland - Bayswater
Bannister Creek - Lynwood
Bennett Brook - Whiteman Park
Bardon Park - Maylands
Blackadder/Woodbridge Catchment Group - Middle Swan
Canning River Residents Environment Protection Association Inc - Rossmoyne/Shelly Foreshore
Ellen Brockman Integrated Catchment Group - Chittering
The Friends of Astley River Park - Gosnells?
Claughton Reserve - Perth
Restoring Lion Mill Creek - Mt Helena
The Friends of Piesse Brook -Kalamunda
The Friends of Pioneer Park - Mt Helena
The Helena River Catchment Group - Kalamunda
The Katharine Street River Gang - Helena Valley
Millennium Kids Inc - Based in Nedlands
Ozfish Unlimited, Canning River - Perth
The Swan Estuary Reserves Action Group - Attadale
Notice anything?
None in the South West, Pilbara, Kimberly, Murchison nor anywhere else in regional areas.
Closest it gets to a non Perth regional area is Chittering, on top of the Darling Scarp to the north, approximately 65km as the crow flies from Hay Street Perth.
I dunno call me old fashioned but "some fantastic regional projects have received funding" sounds like more than one in the regions and its actually only one and its only just outside Perth metro area.
The desire to look like they're WALabor & not PerthLabor I get, but being a bit dodgy about it to achieve is pretty appalling.
Maybe the regions didn't apply, maybe they didn't know, maybe they knew but thought it was pointless because they felt Perth would be favoured...who knows, we don't know who applied and who failed.
We do know Lisa is a little loose n floppy with the truth here in her possible eagerness not to look like a typical PerthLabor-ite MP happy to rip the regions off as they have a record of doing already.
So make an assessment. Ask her the question.
Why we don't know, but it is what it is, not what Lisa suggests.
There are not projects (plural) in the regions on the list.
They have earned their title of PerthLabor party & of being city centric and anti WA.
They're gunna have to do a lot better than this.
We'll see.
Tuesday 9 January 2018
Case Study - Using Just Facts - A Novel Idea
Yes this will make some people laugh loudly, others might agree but be very saddened & others might have varying views but think its an interesting view of the human brain in some folk.
Background is I had a conversation with a couple of friends who are conservatives. Both don't in a god but both are fairly open mind on most things. All in all both are most reasonable persons and even when we don't agree there is never anything I can claim is disagreeable about them. They are conservative in politics but they are thinkers & challenge their own thinking as much as others.
I was explaining about Ben Shapiro and how he uses a very simple approach to dealing with issues being debated. Facts, just use them and nothing else. Do that & remember facts don't care about feelings and feelings should never ever over take or replace facts. Simple.
To show how it would work we looked for a way to experiment when chance would have it, a fine candidate dropped into my lap. Someone retweeted something from Father Rod Bowers of the Anglican Church in Gosford NSW. He's deemed by some as being a little controversial for his clever one liners in a letter board outside his church all around social issues.
This particular one was regarding Manus Island detention centre. The centre of the sign was "Mr Dutton" & all around it were the words "No" in red.
Now the idea was to not engage on refugees but to make a baited statement hook and only stick to facts no matter what is thrown up, keep going back to those facts. No matter what. The predicted result would be that left leaning twitterers would flock in, most would be non Christian and when they struggled with the facts, names or unrelated distractions would get lobbed in to derail the exchange to win. For me it had to not be about winning, it had to be about the facts and nothing else.
If the bait takers brought up facts that were correct that proved me wrong I would have to concede & accept them and thank them.
In the prediction I said not only will it see repeated attempts to derail or distract, it would get personal. I would eventually be called a bigot, intolerant, my mental health would be questioned, probably get called a RWNJ (Right Wing Nut Job) and possibly a hater.
Then there's the hook. I posted one tweet "I don't disagree with his sentiments I just wish he'd preach the Gospel a little more"
I explained to my friends that as the man is a "priest" its easy to know if he's on song performance wise. Just go to his sermons, watch online and then compare with Scripture. Now although my friends are non Christian we agreed to use Scripture as the standard to judge. Now lets be clear, we only used Scripture to use as a guide to judging his performance. I explain why I thought Rod Bowers is actually a non Christian priest who makes social commentary (which is his right) and by Scripture he was a false teacher. Using the standards that my atheist friends don't believe in but concede "Father Rod" should they concluded indeed he is apostate by Christian or Biblical Standard.
Now why use Rod Bowers? Well its a very full left nest. Many no Christians go to his church because they say there's no fire & brimstone. They share a lot with local muslims including an Imam giving a sermon in the church. That's 2 diametrically opposed religious faiths. This intermingling is called or referred to as "Chislam". Sadly Rod may well do some great & wonderful things in the community, but he's not Christian because he doesn't stack up against Scripture.
That's neither here nor there though. The real gut test was the leftist reaction.
Before our experiment rules were clear. I wasn't to call names, nor to react to name calling except to say "that's fine but the facts are..." and return to the facts.
To say we got some classic trigger reactions was an understatement.
Somehow from that original "I don't disagree with his sentiments I just wish he'd preach the Gospel a little more" and some Scripture quotes to back it when pushed we saw these words used to derail.
Islamaphobe, RWNJ, hater, Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull, mongrel, evangelical, prosperity doctrine follower, Liberal, Liberal Party, Pauline Hanson lover, fundamentalist, extremist, ass, racist and a number of comments on my extremely damaged mental health & inferred I had committed slander
.
They're the ones I can print. I also had an ex-Labor MP from Victoria get stuck into me but when I showed the Scripture to explain points of Apostasy I got 2 more insults and blocked. Now my 2 friends asked why I didn't respond to the insult that I was supposed to reply politely & return it to the topic & to facts.
I explained this is how it operates. If they come up against facts, they go personal or go for a distraction. With twitter they have the added benefit of firing and insult and blocking straight away. I don't get to see it, don't know about it and it looks like the insult has shut me down & I'm ignoring the insulter. I replied returning it to the facts but of course the ex-MP wouldn't see it.
In the end I explained to my 2 friends, here's how it works.
Be like Ben Shapiro.
Know your subject, know it very, very well.
Know the facts very, very well & cite studies to reinforce your position.
Know the studies you cite very, very well.
Get sledged or slammed, cop it ignore it & respectfully return to the issue & the facts.
When a distraction or rabbit warren is presented to de-rail, deflect or distract just comment that's not part of the facts & return to the facts.
You will be called names, voices will get raised at you and in the case of Ben Shapiro you get death threats.
Ben Shapiro sticks to the facts because facts don't care about feelings and feelings don't beat facts.
Be Like Ben.
Now Milo Y. is in a similar vein in that he knows his facts very very well. He knows the studies very well that form his facts. He knows aspects of Christianity & Islam extremely well. Difference is, he's highly charged in the area of flamboyance and has been know to cripple a critic with his delivery of the facts.
It does point to a new approach that's beginning to show up in Universities in the USA. Strong and very aggressive left devotees pushing their agenda but now beginning to come up against fact centred people.
Its unsettling for them & its unravelling.
If you get into a politic discussion know the facts, stick to them & when distractions or deflections arise, return to the facts.
My 2 friends are still non-theists but they see clearly that the claim I made, using the standard in which the "priest" is supposed to operate under (Scripture) he is indeed failing. FWIW in a spiritual/religious sense the Bible says to call no one "Father". It also says Pastors have to be held to account & will be judged with a tougher standard. Scripture tells pastors to preach the Gospel. Scripture says to welcome in no other God (Chislam is a serious no no). And apparently Rod has also declared he doesn't believe in Heaven or Hell...even though its in the Bible. He's pro same sex relationships, even though the Bible is very much against it.
You don't have to agree with Rod nor agree with Christian standards set out in the Bible, but they sure do differ and its this altering of standards the left love so much that cause the left to flock to folk like Rod even though they don't see themselves as Christians.
What you believe here isn't important, nor what my worldview/faith/belief/religion is.
What you see and remember that when the left are involved bluff and bluster are favourite go to weapons. So to as distractions and deflections.
Know your facts and the left can lose easily every time.
Every time.
Background is I had a conversation with a couple of friends who are conservatives. Both don't in a god but both are fairly open mind on most things. All in all both are most reasonable persons and even when we don't agree there is never anything I can claim is disagreeable about them. They are conservative in politics but they are thinkers & challenge their own thinking as much as others.
I was explaining about Ben Shapiro and how he uses a very simple approach to dealing with issues being debated. Facts, just use them and nothing else. Do that & remember facts don't care about feelings and feelings should never ever over take or replace facts. Simple.
To show how it would work we looked for a way to experiment when chance would have it, a fine candidate dropped into my lap. Someone retweeted something from Father Rod Bowers of the Anglican Church in Gosford NSW. He's deemed by some as being a little controversial for his clever one liners in a letter board outside his church all around social issues.
This particular one was regarding Manus Island detention centre. The centre of the sign was "Mr Dutton" & all around it were the words "No" in red.
Now the idea was to not engage on refugees but to make a baited statement hook and only stick to facts no matter what is thrown up, keep going back to those facts. No matter what. The predicted result would be that left leaning twitterers would flock in, most would be non Christian and when they struggled with the facts, names or unrelated distractions would get lobbed in to derail the exchange to win. For me it had to not be about winning, it had to be about the facts and nothing else.
If the bait takers brought up facts that were correct that proved me wrong I would have to concede & accept them and thank them.
In the prediction I said not only will it see repeated attempts to derail or distract, it would get personal. I would eventually be called a bigot, intolerant, my mental health would be questioned, probably get called a RWNJ (Right Wing Nut Job) and possibly a hater.
Then there's the hook. I posted one tweet "I don't disagree with his sentiments I just wish he'd preach the Gospel a little more"
I explained to my friends that as the man is a "priest" its easy to know if he's on song performance wise. Just go to his sermons, watch online and then compare with Scripture. Now although my friends are non Christian we agreed to use Scripture as the standard to judge. Now lets be clear, we only used Scripture to use as a guide to judging his performance. I explain why I thought Rod Bowers is actually a non Christian priest who makes social commentary (which is his right) and by Scripture he was a false teacher. Using the standards that my atheist friends don't believe in but concede "Father Rod" should they concluded indeed he is apostate by Christian or Biblical Standard.
Now why use Rod Bowers? Well its a very full left nest. Many no Christians go to his church because they say there's no fire & brimstone. They share a lot with local muslims including an Imam giving a sermon in the church. That's 2 diametrically opposed religious faiths. This intermingling is called or referred to as "Chislam". Sadly Rod may well do some great & wonderful things in the community, but he's not Christian because he doesn't stack up against Scripture.
That's neither here nor there though. The real gut test was the leftist reaction.
Before our experiment rules were clear. I wasn't to call names, nor to react to name calling except to say "that's fine but the facts are..." and return to the facts.
To say we got some classic trigger reactions was an understatement.
Somehow from that original "I don't disagree with his sentiments I just wish he'd preach the Gospel a little more" and some Scripture quotes to back it when pushed we saw these words used to derail.
Islamaphobe, RWNJ, hater, Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull, mongrel, evangelical, prosperity doctrine follower, Liberal, Liberal Party, Pauline Hanson lover, fundamentalist, extremist, ass, racist and a number of comments on my extremely damaged mental health & inferred I had committed slander
.
They're the ones I can print. I also had an ex-Labor MP from Victoria get stuck into me but when I showed the Scripture to explain points of Apostasy I got 2 more insults and blocked. Now my 2 friends asked why I didn't respond to the insult that I was supposed to reply politely & return it to the topic & to facts.
I explained this is how it operates. If they come up against facts, they go personal or go for a distraction. With twitter they have the added benefit of firing and insult and blocking straight away. I don't get to see it, don't know about it and it looks like the insult has shut me down & I'm ignoring the insulter. I replied returning it to the facts but of course the ex-MP wouldn't see it.
In the end I explained to my 2 friends, here's how it works.
Be like Ben Shapiro.
Know your subject, know it very, very well.
Know the facts very, very well & cite studies to reinforce your position.
Know the studies you cite very, very well.
Get sledged or slammed, cop it ignore it & respectfully return to the issue & the facts.
When a distraction or rabbit warren is presented to de-rail, deflect or distract just comment that's not part of the facts & return to the facts.
You will be called names, voices will get raised at you and in the case of Ben Shapiro you get death threats.
Ben Shapiro sticks to the facts because facts don't care about feelings and feelings don't beat facts.
Be Like Ben.
Now Milo Y. is in a similar vein in that he knows his facts very very well. He knows the studies very well that form his facts. He knows aspects of Christianity & Islam extremely well. Difference is, he's highly charged in the area of flamboyance and has been know to cripple a critic with his delivery of the facts.
It does point to a new approach that's beginning to show up in Universities in the USA. Strong and very aggressive left devotees pushing their agenda but now beginning to come up against fact centred people.
Its unsettling for them & its unravelling.
If you get into a politic discussion know the facts, stick to them & when distractions or deflections arise, return to the facts.
My 2 friends are still non-theists but they see clearly that the claim I made, using the standard in which the "priest" is supposed to operate under (Scripture) he is indeed failing. FWIW in a spiritual/religious sense the Bible says to call no one "Father". It also says Pastors have to be held to account & will be judged with a tougher standard. Scripture tells pastors to preach the Gospel. Scripture says to welcome in no other God (Chislam is a serious no no). And apparently Rod has also declared he doesn't believe in Heaven or Hell...even though its in the Bible. He's pro same sex relationships, even though the Bible is very much against it.
You don't have to agree with Rod nor agree with Christian standards set out in the Bible, but they sure do differ and its this altering of standards the left love so much that cause the left to flock to folk like Rod even though they don't see themselves as Christians.
What you believe here isn't important, nor what my worldview/faith/belief/religion is.
What you see and remember that when the left are involved bluff and bluster are favourite go to weapons. So to as distractions and deflections.
Know your facts and the left can lose easily every time.
Every time.
Monday 8 January 2018
PerthLabor & the Ag Colleges Money
So you thought axing the Boarding Away From Home Allowance was incredulous...buckle up.
Next came the closing of School of the Air (SOTA). No consultations with affected parents the community or any stakeholders nor the local Labor MPs.
Then it amped up, turns out (and you can listen to Jane Marwick interviewing Education minister Sue Ellery MLC) the Minister coughs up that the students will have to hook up with SIDE but SIDE will actually also have to cough up savings.
That means $14Million from the grey unexplained area of savings from eliminated duplications but no extra money will go into SIDE, but instead it will have funding cuts too. The integral School Camps will close, teachers visiting students all gone. All will be done out of one building in Leederville so jobs will be leaving the regions, some will be abolished and the only remaining jobs...in Perth
But wait then there's Ag School's money. What you may not know is 60% of the schools earnings stay with the farms to help run it, 40% goes into a Trust where its managed & used for upgrades, machinery replacements etc. We're talking roughly a combined total of $400,000.
In the scheme of things its not a huge chunk of money...unless you haven't got much. Well its a lot less now.
PerthLabor Party has a new decree. Half that trust money will go into either General Revenue or into the Education Budget. Depends who you ask but doesn't matter, $200,000 a year is going away from the Ag School Farms and into...well elsewhere.
Now $200,000 is a big chunk of money if its half your trust's annual income.
Not much if you're Harrisdale School in a Labor Held Metro Electorate & you get $220,000 to provide shade.
"Insert your Town's Name" Supports Regional Students & SOTA
Next came the closing of School of the Air (SOTA). No consultations with affected parents the community or any stakeholders nor the local Labor MPs.
Then it amped up, turns out (and you can listen to Jane Marwick interviewing Education minister Sue Ellery MLC) the Minister coughs up that the students will have to hook up with SIDE but SIDE will actually also have to cough up savings.
That means $14Million from the grey unexplained area of savings from eliminated duplications but no extra money will go into SIDE, but instead it will have funding cuts too. The integral School Camps will close, teachers visiting students all gone. All will be done out of one building in Leederville so jobs will be leaving the regions, some will be abolished and the only remaining jobs...in Perth
But wait then there's Ag School's money. What you may not know is 60% of the schools earnings stay with the farms to help run it, 40% goes into a Trust where its managed & used for upgrades, machinery replacements etc. We're talking roughly a combined total of $400,000.
In the scheme of things its not a huge chunk of money...unless you haven't got much. Well its a lot less now.
PerthLabor Party has a new decree. Half that trust money will go into either General Revenue or into the Education Budget. Depends who you ask but doesn't matter, $200,000 a year is going away from the Ag School Farms and into...well elsewhere.
Now $200,000 is a big chunk of money if its half your trust's annual income.
Not much if you're Harrisdale School in a Labor Held Metro Electorate & you get $220,000 to provide shade.
Now when PerthLabor MPs say that good education for all children regardless of the circumstances (or postcode) is one of the Core Labor Values its either a bald face lie or an admission that PerthLabor has broken its own core values to benefit Labor held seats in Perth and dumped regional students on the tip
Now when PerthLabor MPs say they're governing for all WA they're lying or incredibly inept...or not testing anything and just salute their Emperor and selling his decrees regardless.
Now when PerthLabor MPs say they're the only advocates for regional students education well I can say many things, many different ways but its patently untrue.
Now when PerthLabor MPs say no one will be worse off because no "front line services" will be affected I call bull dust as that's a classic side stepping tactic of Sir Humphrey Applebee play book. You cannot reduce an operating trusts annual income by 50% and expect people will believe there's no affect on frontline services. You have to say in precise wording what "frontline services" actually are and what actual areas will be affected by the cuts.
Now when PerthLabor MPs say its the Liberals fault for not supporting the Gold Tax I call bollocks as the income from raising a tax (like they promised pre-election they wouldn't) I'd say you have the numbers, bring in a change to the State Agreement with Rio & BHP to raise the Special Rent Fee from a 1964 rate of 25c/tonne (that was also waived the first 15 years) to a sustainable, fair & decent $5.00/tonne.
That's where you hear one of two things...crickets or tactical replies.
Now its all well and good to get angry, to get fired up, to mouth off at the pub when it comes up in conversation. All well and good.
But if you want to affect change, like me you have to follow through. Become a small tooth on one of the many cogs in the machine that actually fights the pillaging of the regions to pay for election promises in the Perth metro area.
Don't just get angry get yourself a membership into a political party, then find out when the Education Rally at Perth's Parliament House and organise a busload of like minded unhappy campers and attend with a placard and a loud voice.
There's been a Police Rally, a Gold rally and I reckon if I were a betting man I'd drop a lazy $20 on there being an Education Rally in February. Yes I live 400km from Perth and yes I'm going to drive to Perth and stand shoulder to shoulder with those who are wild for those who're thousands of kilometres away & can't afford to get to Perth. I'll fill in for someone up north.
Will you? Please do, see you there.
Get your community wound up, get the community bus sorted and ready to head to Perth.
Proudly fly the flag of you local bush community at the rally. Take a sign that says
Now when PerthLabor MPs say they're governing for all WA they're lying or incredibly inept...or not testing anything and just salute their Emperor and selling his decrees regardless.
Now when PerthLabor MPs say they're the only advocates for regional students education well I can say many things, many different ways but its patently untrue.
Now when PerthLabor MPs say no one will be worse off because no "front line services" will be affected I call bull dust as that's a classic side stepping tactic of Sir Humphrey Applebee play book. You cannot reduce an operating trusts annual income by 50% and expect people will believe there's no affect on frontline services. You have to say in precise wording what "frontline services" actually are and what actual areas will be affected by the cuts.
Now when PerthLabor MPs say its the Liberals fault for not supporting the Gold Tax I call bollocks as the income from raising a tax (like they promised pre-election they wouldn't) I'd say you have the numbers, bring in a change to the State Agreement with Rio & BHP to raise the Special Rent Fee from a 1964 rate of 25c/tonne (that was also waived the first 15 years) to a sustainable, fair & decent $5.00/tonne.
That's where you hear one of two things...crickets or tactical replies.
Now its all well and good to get angry, to get fired up, to mouth off at the pub when it comes up in conversation. All well and good.
But if you want to affect change, like me you have to follow through. Become a small tooth on one of the many cogs in the machine that actually fights the pillaging of the regions to pay for election promises in the Perth metro area.
Don't just get angry get yourself a membership into a political party, then find out when the Education Rally at Perth's Parliament House and organise a busload of like minded unhappy campers and attend with a placard and a loud voice.
There's been a Police Rally, a Gold rally and I reckon if I were a betting man I'd drop a lazy $20 on there being an Education Rally in February. Yes I live 400km from Perth and yes I'm going to drive to Perth and stand shoulder to shoulder with those who are wild for those who're thousands of kilometres away & can't afford to get to Perth. I'll fill in for someone up north.
Will you? Please do, see you there.
Get your community wound up, get the community bus sorted and ready to head to Perth.
Proudly fly the flag of you local bush community at the rally. Take a sign that says
"Insert your Town's Name" Supports Regional Students & SOTA
Wednesday 3 January 2018
School of the Air & WA Govn in General
The WALabor party has long been loud in its criticism of the Barnett Government that was, but the tide has turned. Labor is the Government now & whilst you'd expect the usual stumbles during the weeks following the new government's honeymoon period its been an extended epic fail period.
Focusing just on the Axing of School of the Air debacle its very clear that the WALabor party is firstly "PerthLabor Party" and secondly it had a bit of a plan to win the very unlosable election but still has no plan on how to govern the state for the benefit of the state.
In the case of School of the Air, its not really a "merger with SIDE" its an axing of school of the air with people forced to use SIDE...or is it? We're not 100% sure because the Minister is AWOL & there's no detailed plan for everyone to pour over. Yet. So far we have not seen a properly set out plan of how this will work, what it will look like and exactly what duplicated services are being amalgamated. We do know there's plenty of remote parents not happy.
It gets worse and is a serious indictment on a Government in disarray. Mark McGowan visits Broome, does a photo op presser with local Labor MP Josie Farrer but no mention at that point of School of the Air going on the chopping block. In fact when it finally did get announced there was the usual or expected disgust was compounded when Labor MP Kevin Michel coughed up that he was actually in Parliament when he heard it announced.
A northern WA government MP & he wasn't consulted or briefed. Nor was Josie Farrer. In fact despite there being a hugely heralded 14 or 15 Labor MPs, (depending who you talk to) more than any other party we've yet to find a single Labor MP say they were involved in the decision making process. They're all playing dodgeball.
Labor's Darren West MLC did come out and say that parents involved would be able to speak with the government for input. Thing is, the decision was already made. No community nor stakeholder consultation prior to the announcement at all. Seems the decision was made, the decree delivered to the subjects outside Perth with no ability to add their experiences to find the best solution for the kids. I have no problem with changes being brought in...IF the kid's education improves and there's generally improved outcomes AND the stakeholders are part of the changes being assessed.
Not so here.
Darren West did say that they could get involved and possibly even help rename the new entity "School of the Air" if they so chose. I wasn't alone in being stunned.
Still no proper plan what the new entity will look like, how it will operate, what is lost & what is gained. With no sitting of Parliament until February and now the Dec/Jan holiday period I suspect PerthLabor thought best drop the bomb and the dust will settle long before Parliament resumes.
Its not looking that way. Into January as I type and in the bush, the rage is being maintained and is growing. Mark McGowan is missing in action. Sue Ellery has a puff piece in the Newspaper, no detailed plan & one regional Labor MP is running around (well now & then) dropping one liners on Twitter to try & address all the spot fires breaking out.
Mark McGowan took nearly three weeks to not deal with Mr Urban and the "stolen valour" medal saga. It was so serious a situation that Mr Urban resigned from PerthLabor Party but not from Parliament. If it was so serious why did McGowan not sack him from the party?
For a person who served in the Royal Australian Navy our Mr McGowan is looking more like Mr McGoo being unable to plan, lead, instruct, discipline nor govern.
There is no Governance of Decency.
School of the Air gets axed in the pursuit of savings, meanwhile in Perth one Labor held seat will get a $4,500,000.00 Performing Arts Centre, another gets $5,000,000.00. Another school gets a new school bus whilst rural Dumbleyung gets a bus run cancelled.
There's been much loudness about the problems being a Liberal/National thing but the last government wasn't a coalition, it was a Partnership Government. The Nats were able to cross the floor on legislation and oppose government policy. Indeed they did. They crossed the floor on the City of Perth Bill (which would have forced country shire amalgamations). Among other things they opposed the sale of Fremantle Port.
They applied strict provisions on the possible sale of Western Power which would have benefited WA if it went ahead, but the Liberals were in no mind to accept them. The sale of Western Power really was a non issue. It wasn't going to happen. Labor tried to appear opposed to the sale of State Owned Assets, now not so much as they look to sell of Landgate. If LandGate's data entity is sold it will have no competition, the Labor Government will be creating a market monopoly...as they said they wouldn't. But they said they would never bring in a Gold Tax and then tried unsuccessfully after winning Government.
Twice.
Ironic really is the key point, the PerthLabor Party is actually a coalition government. It is because it has 2 factions, "the Left" and "the Progressives" which is merely the Unions and non Unions. They're really a coalition because of the rules of Labor preventing anyone speaking against Party policy at any time. If they don't fully support & sell the party line they are expelled from the party.
Its like Dark Ages Catholic Church excommunication.
Note this, the regional Labor MPs ARE supporting the axing of educational services in the bush, the axing of the country towns sewerage projects, the axing of renos of country hospitals like Laverton and the closing of residential college services (and more) whilst a $125,000,000.00+ Marina Playground in Labor held Joondalup is built. It means the regional Labor MPs are completely useless tokens. They support totally the party city centric line and are "regional" only due to their electorate, not their representation.
This is why I don't refer to them as WALabor but use the more accurate PerthLabor Party.
In a normal universe Sue Ellery would lose her ministry. She may yet but with Mr McGoo at the head of the PerthLabor Party maybe not. He has no plan and no clear indication who actually is running the Party that's steering the Government.
I'm expecting more policy decay. In contrast, the NatsWA delivered Royalties for Regions which will now sadly suffer massive cost shifting to allow more plundering to pay for Perth based election sweetners. In the election, NatsWA were down but a few hundred votes down state wide. Opposition will add a new dynamic to the Nats and will in the long term greatly add to them and help them mature even more policy wise. We're starting to see this already. We haven't seen this in PerthLabor Party for all their time in the opposition wilderness. In fact since returning to Government, their party has gifted a lifetime achievement award to controversial Union thug Joe McDonald. Now its gets weird because McDonald was actually expelled from the party in 2007.
There is no reason why the very questionable Mr Urban cannot end up with a honour award from PerthLabor. In fact its probably very heartening for Brian Burke as well.
To borrow from an older Labor movement "Maintain the Rage"
Sadly there'll be much to fuel that against PerthLabor. The government is city centric, country blind with no rural representation.
Below I'll add some of the Pre-election promises that PerthLabor is looking to deliver whilst the bush suffers. Check back later, it's going to take a long time to list just the prominent ones.
Late Edits...apparently the axing of School of the Air will save the state $14million dollars over 4 years. Lets compare that suggested saving with other Perth Labor Initiatives.
#1 Perth Labor MP Sabine Winton MLA happy her old school gets $5,000,000 in upgrades. Well that leaves $9Million in savings from axing school of the Air & Wanneroo Students are better off remote students not so much
#7 Huntingdale gets $40,000 for a new "Nature Playground" Wow...play area whilst School of the Air is Axed...ok?
#8 Not really related but interesting these two Perth based PerthLabor MPs sought to do a photo op on a minesite in the north, in a hard hat area with their helmets off. Being interested in the bottom line, they'll have paid the fine for breaching. And why are they there & who paid for their trip? We don't know, they won't say...but oh looky-look its a mine owned by one of the Rio/BHP Duopoly. You know the rich foreign owned mining companies that sunk $4,000,000 into a CME led campaign to unseat Brendon Grylls at the last State Election. Imagine that? 2 rich foreign owned companies influencing who does & doesn't get into OUR parliament so they don't have to pay a fair & sustainable $5 Mining Rental fee...that would have dropped $7Billion into WA Coffers. Hmmm?
#9 - To be fair we think this is in the $8Million for his electorates new School...whilst School of the Air for regional & remote students is AXED
#12 - Wow Yaz has influence with the Education minister...he needs to step up for the axed School of the Air. Heck he pops up to foreign owned mine in the Pilbrara far far away from his Perth electorate...
Focusing just on the Axing of School of the Air debacle its very clear that the WALabor party is firstly "PerthLabor Party" and secondly it had a bit of a plan to win the very unlosable election but still has no plan on how to govern the state for the benefit of the state.
In the case of School of the Air, its not really a "merger with SIDE" its an axing of school of the air with people forced to use SIDE...or is it? We're not 100% sure because the Minister is AWOL & there's no detailed plan for everyone to pour over. Yet. So far we have not seen a properly set out plan of how this will work, what it will look like and exactly what duplicated services are being amalgamated. We do know there's plenty of remote parents not happy.
It gets worse and is a serious indictment on a Government in disarray. Mark McGowan visits Broome, does a photo op presser with local Labor MP Josie Farrer but no mention at that point of School of the Air going on the chopping block. In fact when it finally did get announced there was the usual or expected disgust was compounded when Labor MP Kevin Michel coughed up that he was actually in Parliament when he heard it announced.
A northern WA government MP & he wasn't consulted or briefed. Nor was Josie Farrer. In fact despite there being a hugely heralded 14 or 15 Labor MPs, (depending who you talk to) more than any other party we've yet to find a single Labor MP say they were involved in the decision making process. They're all playing dodgeball.
Labor's Darren West MLC did come out and say that parents involved would be able to speak with the government for input. Thing is, the decision was already made. No community nor stakeholder consultation prior to the announcement at all. Seems the decision was made, the decree delivered to the subjects outside Perth with no ability to add their experiences to find the best solution for the kids. I have no problem with changes being brought in...IF the kid's education improves and there's generally improved outcomes AND the stakeholders are part of the changes being assessed.
Not so here.
Darren West did say that they could get involved and possibly even help rename the new entity "School of the Air" if they so chose. I wasn't alone in being stunned.
Still no proper plan what the new entity will look like, how it will operate, what is lost & what is gained. With no sitting of Parliament until February and now the Dec/Jan holiday period I suspect PerthLabor thought best drop the bomb and the dust will settle long before Parliament resumes.
Its not looking that way. Into January as I type and in the bush, the rage is being maintained and is growing. Mark McGowan is missing in action. Sue Ellery has a puff piece in the Newspaper, no detailed plan & one regional Labor MP is running around (well now & then) dropping one liners on Twitter to try & address all the spot fires breaking out.
Mark McGowan took nearly three weeks to not deal with Mr Urban and the "stolen valour" medal saga. It was so serious a situation that Mr Urban resigned from PerthLabor Party but not from Parliament. If it was so serious why did McGowan not sack him from the party?
For a person who served in the Royal Australian Navy our Mr McGowan is looking more like Mr McGoo being unable to plan, lead, instruct, discipline nor govern.
There is no Governance of Decency.
School of the Air gets axed in the pursuit of savings, meanwhile in Perth one Labor held seat will get a $4,500,000.00 Performing Arts Centre, another gets $5,000,000.00. Another school gets a new school bus whilst rural Dumbleyung gets a bus run cancelled.
There's been much loudness about the problems being a Liberal/National thing but the last government wasn't a coalition, it was a Partnership Government. The Nats were able to cross the floor on legislation and oppose government policy. Indeed they did. They crossed the floor on the City of Perth Bill (which would have forced country shire amalgamations). Among other things they opposed the sale of Fremantle Port.
They applied strict provisions on the possible sale of Western Power which would have benefited WA if it went ahead, but the Liberals were in no mind to accept them. The sale of Western Power really was a non issue. It wasn't going to happen. Labor tried to appear opposed to the sale of State Owned Assets, now not so much as they look to sell of Landgate. If LandGate's data entity is sold it will have no competition, the Labor Government will be creating a market monopoly...as they said they wouldn't. But they said they would never bring in a Gold Tax and then tried unsuccessfully after winning Government.
Twice.
Ironic really is the key point, the PerthLabor Party is actually a coalition government. It is because it has 2 factions, "the Left" and "the Progressives" which is merely the Unions and non Unions. They're really a coalition because of the rules of Labor preventing anyone speaking against Party policy at any time. If they don't fully support & sell the party line they are expelled from the party.
Its like Dark Ages Catholic Church excommunication.
Note this, the regional Labor MPs ARE supporting the axing of educational services in the bush, the axing of the country towns sewerage projects, the axing of renos of country hospitals like Laverton and the closing of residential college services (and more) whilst a $125,000,000.00+ Marina Playground in Labor held Joondalup is built. It means the regional Labor MPs are completely useless tokens. They support totally the party city centric line and are "regional" only due to their electorate, not their representation.
This is why I don't refer to them as WALabor but use the more accurate PerthLabor Party.
In a normal universe Sue Ellery would lose her ministry. She may yet but with Mr McGoo at the head of the PerthLabor Party maybe not. He has no plan and no clear indication who actually is running the Party that's steering the Government.
I'm expecting more policy decay. In contrast, the NatsWA delivered Royalties for Regions which will now sadly suffer massive cost shifting to allow more plundering to pay for Perth based election sweetners. In the election, NatsWA were down but a few hundred votes down state wide. Opposition will add a new dynamic to the Nats and will in the long term greatly add to them and help them mature even more policy wise. We're starting to see this already. We haven't seen this in PerthLabor Party for all their time in the opposition wilderness. In fact since returning to Government, their party has gifted a lifetime achievement award to controversial Union thug Joe McDonald. Now its gets weird because McDonald was actually expelled from the party in 2007.
There is no reason why the very questionable Mr Urban cannot end up with a honour award from PerthLabor. In fact its probably very heartening for Brian Burke as well.
To borrow from an older Labor movement "Maintain the Rage"
Sadly there'll be much to fuel that against PerthLabor. The government is city centric, country blind with no rural representation.
Below I'll add some of the Pre-election promises that PerthLabor is looking to deliver whilst the bush suffers. Check back later, it's going to take a long time to list just the prominent ones.
Late Edits...apparently the axing of School of the Air will save the state $14million dollars over 4 years. Lets compare that suggested saving with other Perth Labor Initiatives.
#1 Perth Labor MP Sabine Winton MLA happy her old school gets $5,000,000 in upgrades. Well that leaves $9Million in savings from axing school of the Air & Wanneroo Students are better off remote students not so much
# 2 Well that's $9,500,000 savings gone to Perth...Another PerthLabor MP getting the glory for their electorate.
#3 Build a fence? I'm sure that's important...so important it needs Political Spruiking.
#4 - A local P&C Committee gets $140,000? I'm sur ethey have a great project or two in mind...Not sure if many rural, regional or remote P&C committees got a cheque for $140,000 whilst School of the Air was axed(?)
#5 - Kinross College got a new school bus & I'm sure it was sorely needed as they navigate the bustling traffic of the Perth Metro Area...whilst Dumbleyung got a school bus run cancelled & School of the Air was axed.
#6 Gosnells & Southern River probably need the money, all $8,400,000 of it whilst School of the Air was axed. WOW I haven't include the cost of Currumbine's Fence or Kinross's brand new school bus & we've hit $18,040,000 in Education outcomes whilst School of the Air is axed. If axing School of the Air saves $14Million (does it really?) then the savings have already been exported to the Perth Metro Area, mainly to Labor Held Seats. And we haven't touched the other expenditure in other Perth Schools below...
#10 - Harrisdale School gets $220,000 to provide shade? OK that's probably very important...but its a lot of money when we somehow can't find any to keep School of the Air open.
#11 - Ahhh another new primary school in Perth. Its probably needed, I don't begrudge them that but note it's happening (cost not sure) whilst WA's School of the Air for remote WA students is being axed.
#7
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