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.

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.

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.

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

"Insert your Town's Name" Supports Regional Students & SOTA

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

 

 

# 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...

#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

 

 

#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.

#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...



 

#7

 

 

 

 

The Complexity of the Simple Backfiring of WALabor Party

Several points, complexity not needed just everything laid open in bare sight.
1) WALabor Party had everything on their side at the last state election. It resulted in a change of government, it put them in power. Not just in power but they rode a Tsunami red tidal change. Its said they had a plan to win government but really they didn't need much of a plan, all they needed to do was keep their nose clean and gently punch on. This they did and they were rewarded with a handsome majority in the Lower House largely gained at the expense of the Liberal Party (Lacking proper planning and then back flipping later)
2) Point one above needs some further clarification. They had very little of a plan to win Government and it's beginning to appear they have virtually no plan to run Government. The "Urban Medal" saga got deeper by day & more perculiar with each passing week. After 2o odd days, Barry Urban resigned from the Party and went on as an Independent. After being absent from Parliament for an extended period he came back, gave a quick speech which may actually get him into deeper water. Like Dastyari, it was not managed, leadership was absent all along. Dastyari did whatever so bad he could no longer stay in the Senate, but stays in the Labor Party. Urban so on the nose he had to leave the Labor Party but stayed in Parliament. Neither did anything so bad that the respective Labor Leaders saw fit to sack them. (Lacking Leadership)
3) With such a huge margin in the Lower House, Labor never ever needs all its MPs to even show up. Just on half of them will do. With such a huge electoral margin and with WALabor still thinking as if its in Election Mode, they know they only need to placate and ingratiate themselves with a majority of Perth based voters. Some of their MPs still operate as if they're opposition, especially the Regional Labor MPs. Its now the PerthLabor Party the regional MPs are outside the loop completely (City Centric Completely)4) School of the Air - What a debacle. Education is Labor given...until now. Millions of dollars going into metro schools, less so the bush. School of the Air wasn't just axed, it was done so without the PerthLabor Governments regional MPs being consulted or told. Josie Farrer in Broome didn't know. It gets worse, people using the service weren't told nor consulted either.
Now the decision has been made (in Perth by Perth) they will now allow stakeholders & the community to have the opportunity to speak with the Minister's department. Apparently to maybe "help come up with a name, possible name it School of the Air" (No stakeholder consultation at all, no community consultation at all)

So how are we going so far? We have a completely City Centric PerthLabor Government that makes decisions without consultation with the community & stakeholders. Their leadership is as absent as their plans. It is beginning to look like a pay back war against the regions whilst 2 of the biggest richest foreign owned mining companies remain the quarantined protected species when it comes to paying their fair share. Labor slices up regional & remote WA Education whilst pouring it into the metro area.

I'd expect Sue Ellery will be the first minister to lose her head...expect as in ordinarily.

I've not seen a Labor Government this bizarrely cobbled together. They're all over the place like a mad man's spit. Not to mention cut backs everywhere whilst they spend in the Metro Area like a drunken sailor. No pun intended upon the Premier who's ex Navy.

Notable amongst a thousand comparisons I could make...the Premier's own electorate, Rockingham gets $373,000 for local basketball. That's twice as much as the Regional & Labor held seat of Albany gets over 2 years for the Ice/Meth Recovery. Had Albany been Liberal or Nationals held I'd expect all cheques to be torn up.

Interesting that Labor promised the Motorplex Funding in Albany & the Ring Road Project. Might still be the case, but nothing announced yet.

We'll see. Interesting NatsWA spotted the SW Rescue Chopper had no funding at all. Labor decried that was false. It wasn't. The Labor said its normal budgeting process and would have read the same in the Budget were the Liberals in power. No true there was nothing in forward estimates. It was over. After a massive wave of regional anger, PerthLabor found money that apparently didn't exist before & funded it. Just as well, that chopper has been far too busy with search & rescue and car accident attendances.

PerthLabor Government is city centric & election focused whilst being without any real leadership nor desire to engage with stakeholders in the community. If there's light at the end of the tunnel...its a freight train with Mark McGowan as the train driver. Derailment ahead at some point

2018, The Left, The Progressives, THE Most Likely To...

Left vs Right and a few shades in between. Its been that simple for the casual observer forever but there's always been more complexity, always more devil in the detail.

In the US the progressives had latched onto images of women in a hijab (women choosing to wear the hijab) as an image portraying freedom of speech, religion, expression and even against intolerance & bigotry. It stands in stark contrast to women in Iran on this the first day of 2018 attending protests & taking off their head wear to protest against oppression as they view the hijab to be a symbol of oppression. Why? probably because the "progressives" aren't progressive, they twisted it to oppose everything they think s establishment. White & Christian in the USA.
Some of the US "progressives" fall deathly silent on Iran or claim its a sovereign matter for a foreign country. who knew the morality of women's rights are relative to national borders?

The irony is not lost on people of the right, people who usually take no interest in political matters and really not lost on those who genuinely are "progressives". Its part of the reason there are many progressives around the world who are leaving the left. If I was to have a wishful bet for 2018 I'd hope the Left has a proper ideological reformation and if not perhaps the right could so the real progressives in society have somewhere to actually go.

We're at a cross roads now & we've begun to see a small emerging trend, well I hope its a trend. I hope its a growing trend. I'm not exactly a total fan of Milo Y. but have to say when he first popped onto my own personal radar he'd been a big deal for a very long time in a lot of other places. I didn't know of him until 4 or 5 months prior to his 2017 visit to Australia. Interesting was the contradictions he brought to the front & centre of most people's viewing.
Labelled as an Anti-Semite, a homophobe and a racist. Turns out he didn't possess those facets of bigotry at all. We soon learnt he was gay married to a black man and was of Jewish descent. Turns out the intolerant nature he had was an intolerance for lack of facts or a deliberate depletion of facts when apparently self claiming "progressives" put forward an argument.
He was of course controversial and if you're on the talk circuit you need to be.

Not long after I stumbled upon Ben Shapiro. Ben is an American social commentator, has a show, is a very well educated, well credentialed graduate of Law. Seek him out on YouTube and his many area of controversy is..."facts don't care about feelings, stick with facts".

Neither he nor Milo will be 100% right on 100% of all things 100% of the time.
I am in Ben Shapiro's case having a hard time finding where he's tripped himself up yet.
In fact I haven't yet. Yes, he sticks close to the same areas and the same formula but these are areas which he's researched, grabbed the most centrally relevant facts and drops them as he finds them. They're not massaged, twist or where required omitted.

A full on argument with Ben Shapiro is not an argument with Ben Shaprio.
Its full on argument with facts where he happens to be the delivery guy.
Yes he puts a polished delivery on every nugget he drops but unlike Milo, its not grandiose showmanship to deliver the goods whilst spruiking the deliverer's brand.
Brand Milo is growing.

For 2 different reasons, two very different and at times differing people, Milo & Ben, may turn out to be two of the more influential people in 2018. Yes even though they're not kindred spirits they have commonalities.

They will be regard as being from the right, but because they're fact based genuine "progressives" who really are genuinely progressive will hear the penny drop from these to and leave the left.

Alt-Right, Hard left, Ultra Right, Leftist Progressives...all these shades of the two poles aren't helpful and hopefully we will see more people in Australia and see that the Liberal/Labor Duopoly of today & the last 20 years has been good & bad, but it hasn't been as good as it should be.

Labor Party is a funny outfit. It demonises the Liberals and anyone of the right for being more inclined to like things of an authoritarian nature. Union crushing, destroying anything non white Christian and corporate. Maybe some of that is true. But strangely the Labor party is a mini me of Socialist Russia long gone. In the Labor Party you can argue, but only behind closed doors and even then you better be very sparingly inclined to rock the boat or you'll be replaced. Cross the floor in parliament? Yep you will be expelled from the party & replaced by an approved and anointed devout follower from the coven.

Liberals not so? Well yes, but its less overt. Cross the floor is allowed but you know its career threatening. Not one MP from WA has ever really fought for GST reform in parliament, let alone even mentioned it in the House of Reps or the Senate.
Maybe so in 2018.

But be aware, a growing number of people are sick of political awareness that suppresses facts to protect feelings. Its a threat to both the left and the right.
This growing sentiment has the potential to bring some real reformation to both the left & the right...so it'll have an enormous amount of resistance.

I'm not pro Trump. He's been a buffoon and a clot with alarming regularity. He's created as much fake news & alternative facts as he's complained about. The weirdest thing is, under his watch, the real progressives who have chased facts over feelings have flourished. Its not a credit to him directly nor intentionally. Maybe its coincidental but it could never have happened under Bush, Clinton Obama or here under Turnbull, Abbott, Rudd or Gillard.

Maybe things under all these people just wore things down to where we are now, where people have stopped and looked for facts and they're winning.

Its only day one of the year and if this is a return to a properly real era of progressive thinking, well its day one also. You can expect massive push back from both Left & Right regressives.

Yes here's the oddity, it may not be a fight between Left & Right that is the most important, maybe the most dominant but not the most important.

The real important struggle will most likely be between the Progressives and Regressives.

Where I see personal attacks, comments on corruption without proof, claims of intolerance or being offended I know they're alternatives to facts and tell tale clues we're listening to a regressive.

Feminism, unionism are not dirty words, they good for society. So too is religion, faith & capitalism.
Race relations, feminism, capitalism, religion...all have been hijacked but intellectually bankrupt people and left their causes angered, bitter and hate fuelled in some circles. Good orators have the power to rouse fools to slaughter.

A good statesman however will be a fact based progressive who can lead through good times & dark times. Its been a while since we've seen great statesmen (and I used that term as gender neutral lest anyone be "offended").

The politician who devoutly follows the party dogma is a cult member ministering to the sinners he/she is wishing to convert or rule authority over if they cannot be converted.
Politics in WA & Australia as well as many other countries has Political cults with cult followers.

I'm hoping here on Day 1 of 2018 we may see more true & real Progressives progressive by name, nature & deeds to come to the fore. Real tolerance follows and an intolerance to ideals that are not of our own.

Happy 2018. Lets hope.

The blurring of the Left & the Right & expelling poverty from society

What's right & what's wrong, what's right & what's left?
Terribly simple on the face of it however there's blurring everywhere, whether that should be or not is another thing but there is blurring...lots of it.

Recently seen one prominent WALabor MP get stuck into rural & regional voters stating "that was the fault of the previous state coalition government, now Labor has more regional MPs in WA than anyone else"
What was lacking on the end of that state, and for good reason, was "now regional people will see some real progress". It was left off with good reason because the fact is WALabor could have filled every rural seat but nothing will change. They are still going to be in the minority.

Here's a range of possible facts, first one is definite, the WALabor Government is in fact a truer coalition government than the previous Labor/National Government. For one thing, the NatsWA were minority partners and they weren't in coalition, they were in "partnership". With the traditional coalition arrangement, all members of the government despite their party had to fall into line behind the prevailing view of the government. A Nationals minister would be kicked out of cabinet if they crossed the floor. As we saw with the City of Perth Bill NatsWA saw that was going to cause harmful shire amalgamations in the bush they crossed the floor, it was lost. No doubt there was fall out but there's current Libs now see it was a bad bill for the bush. NatsWA refused to support the sale of the Fremantle Port. It will turn out to be a massive financial windfall in decades to come that ths asset was retained. Western Power, well the Nats put restrictions on this sale, most of which would have meant the sale was unlikely.

Now if a Labor Government were in place & was pushing the same government agendas or perhaps other Bills or initiatives that would be damaging to the bush, what happens in a WALabor government camp? Simple. In theory.
They vote behind closed doors and that's the way EVERY Labor MP will vote on the floor of parliament. No crossing the floor allowed. They have borrowed from the catholic church and dissent results in payback in the form of being ex-communicated from the party.

Right now School of the Air in WA is on the chopping block, so too are residential colleges in rural & regional areas. Is there a good result at the end of it that the 15 regional Labor MPs can point to?
No. They just say its regrettable and its the Liberal/National Party's fault. No austerity in Perth with $373,000 going into Basketball in the Premier's electorate (which by the way is more than the Albany Ice Rehab programme in Albany gets OVER 2 YEARS!!!).
A $125,000,000 marina in Labor held Joondalup to service the playground needs of the City's rich & tasteless.

Second fact, the current WALabor Government is actually more of a Coalition Government than the Lib/Nats. Its made up of several factions. There's the "left", there's the "progressives" and then there's the small group who claim to be factionless.
Which ever group rules the day on a particular issue, those of a differing view cannot speak out against the decided stance, they cannot partake in "back bench grumblings" and they certainly cannot cross the floor.

Payback is swift if that happens. EXPULSION FROM THE PARTY and the party labels them a treacherous disgrace of a rat.

Irrespective of the methods, all do as the majority says and dictates, there will be no dissent. They can claim to have fought hard behind closed doors, but there is absolutely no way of knowing and no one within will take efforts to prove it. Its topic avoidance if it is raised.
Tactic 1 to 365...blame the previous government or the current opposition.
Here there is no blurring. Its their way & no other option. Who they are is another murky question but its not regional Labor MPs way & its not regional resident's way either.

Blurring of the left does happen when they pursue the Gold Tax (when they said in opposition they wouldn't) they pursue it twice whilst the massively wealthy foreign owned Rio Tinto & BHP still only 25c a tonne on the special mining rental fee. A fee that's been never been changed since 1963. It was agreed to waive it the first 15 years and later it was forward paid to get infrastructure they were going to use up & running. It can be changed without too much trouble.

Not very left, looks like (and I'll borrow this from the leftist handbook to further underline the irony) "book licking the big end of town bedfellows".

What's this fluid approach do to other issues like poverty that apparently are supposed to be big on Labor's radar? Well nothing its ignored as single pensioners get a 30% increase in their power bill soon ( https://thewest.com.au/politics/state-politics/power-prices-pensioners-hit-hard-by-mcgowan-government-increases-secret-documents-show-ng-b88643505z )

How's that "left thing" going?

Aboriginal poverty line? All cactus with no plan just a steady diet & "look over there" distraction tactics identity politics and previous government is to blame not us tricks.

What could we do to reduce poverty? Push & encourage 3 things and you don't force people you educate them. You show them there is a very simple way to get out of poverty. Just follow 3 very simple rules and your chances are elevated hugely.
1) Finish high school and actually try to do very well (if you can get more education after that that helps all the better, but at the very least get yourself properly through High School

2) Get a job & stay employed. What ever it is really isn't the biggest deal just get employed and stay employed. All honest work is noble, you need to chase & attain noble. Only qualified to do labouring jobs but you want an office job? Well no one is 100% assured of working physically in a labouring job til they're 70. At some point you need to get more part time training to get up the ladder to where you need or want to be. No point sitting on the dole because your garage band can't get a record deal. Go to work.

3) Get married BEFORE you have kids. Its not shaming single mothers or single fathers but the best family unit is two married parents in a stable household. Its very unfortunate then if someone ends up a single parent, but raising kids out of wedlock on your own is incredibly hard and whilst there are success stories, nowhere near as many as strong married households...especially ones that consider Finishing high school and getting a job is an imperative.
"Typical right wing rant from white middle class privilege town" will no doubt be the reply in fact I've heard it. There blurring is odd in that yes US Conservative commentators like Ben Shapiro do quote this & therefore it does trigger some leftists into a hate frenzy.

Odd part is, it comes from a study by the Brookings Institute in the USA which is a very left leaning think tank.
You saw that yeah? Left leaning...not conservative. Brookings institute is left leaning yet its seen that the study produces the facts that prove these conservative values are actually better for people and society by reducing poverty, increasing confidence, self worth and productivity across the board.

How much?
75% of people who do those 3 things will end up in the middle class & only 2% of the people who do those 3 things will end up in staying in poverty.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6rYasjPY2U

That's the 3 simple steps that in the vast number of cases.

Edward DeBono coined the phrase "Arrogance Arguing" where a person in a debate will either hide or withhold facts that damage their own argument. Its one of the reasons why I'm not a fan of debating ala "school debate" style. The position is predetermined and then you seek out that which benefits your chance of winning the argument rather than what's best for the majority.

We have a massive tear in the moral fabric of our Australian society. Correcting these problems would far easily be achieved if nearly all of the population adhered to the 3 rules.

"But its not that simple"

No it isn't, its extremely difficult, however that is the best pathway for the majority of society and being difficult should not be a barrier.

It is the thing though. Political parties are school debaters, which is why we've seen so many lawyers in state & federal parliament. They're great performers in debates. If policies were music, these debaters would sell millions of records for their party. But its this convenient dropping of facts & blurring the left/right lines that is the problem. If you're going to blur the lines it should not be to beat the other side, it should be to gain the best outcome for the society.

No seeing eagerness in the WALabor camp here.