MIRTH IN MUKINBUDIN

 (New material added 17 September 2016)

There was mirth in Mukinbudin, for the word had got around

That an Acting CEO was on his way:

There was merriment in Maddock Street, the depot and the pound,

When they heard the new messiah’s name was Ray.

‘This is just the man we’re needing’, cried the Shire President,

‘He’s a marvel, he’s a miracle, he’s a gem;

To which York and Chittering ratepayers will cheerfully assent

When they tell you what Ray Hooper did for them.

I’ve known old Ray for fifty years, since he and I were sprogs,

He’s got passion, brains and competence to spare.

Who cares that troublemakers whinge about him on their blogs?

He’s impervious, and doesn’t turn a hair.

So take no heed of grumbling from the distant shire of York,

Nor of twittering from Chittering—none of that,

We’ll just get advice from WALGA, maybe have a little talk

With bowler Pat, and Trevor in his hat…”

From The Mugs of Mukinbudin, by Teddy ‘Topsoil’ Higgs

Don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m still struggling to recover from the shock of David Taylor’s revelation on the other blog that our former CEO Ray Hooper has been appointed Acting CEO for the Shire of Mukinbudin.

I’m not sure yet why Mukinbudin needs an Acting CEO.  I can only assume that Mr. Stuart Billingham, who has held the position since June 2013—and is still listed as CEO on the Shire’s website—is taking leave of absence, leaving the door open for Shire President Gary Shadbolt and his fellow councillors to take leave of their senses.

Or perhaps Mr. Billingham has resigned to work elsewhere and hasn’t got round yet to updating his page on the FIGJAM site LinkedIn. 

Mukinbudin Shire President Gary Shadbolt

  

Anointed

Whatever the case may be with respect to Mr. Billingham, it appears that Mr. Hooper was duly anointed Acting CEO at a special meeting of Mukinbudin Shire Council on 19 August 2016. 

Needless to say, the council met in secret conclave in accordance with the provisions of section 5.23 (2) (c) of the Local Government Act.  That section permits a council to exclude the public from witnessing discussion of ‘a contract entered into…by the local government and which relates to a matter to be discussed at the meeting.’ 

WALGA

It’s said that WALGA recommended Mr. Hooper for the acting position.  Can you believe it? 

Yes, easily, when you remember that WALGA is no friend to the ratepayers of WA.   It’s a body that exists primarily to promote the interests and travel opportunities of councillors and local government staff, and to provide an annual talkfest for its members at taxpayers' and ratepayers’ expense.

Nor is WALGA a friend to the idea of open, honest and accountable local government.   

At its conference in 2015, WALGA’s membership voted down proposals from John Carey, Mayor of Vincent that would have gone some way to disperse the fog of secrecy that envelops local government at every level in WA, concealing rorting, corruption and systematic abuse of privilege and power. 

(Just ask WA premier Colin Barnett if you think I’m painting too lurid a picture of what goes on.)

No investigation…

It’s also said that in recommending Mr. Hooper as Acting CEO, WALGA assured the Mukinbudin Council that he had been ‘exonerated’ of all allegations made against him.

If so, that assurance is not true. 

The truth is that those allegations have never been investigated—not by the Fraud Squad, and not by the Corruption and Crime Commission.

What the Fraud Squad came up with was hardly ‘exoneration’ if the little we have been told about what it reported to the Shire of York is true. 

All the police seem to have done is shift the blame over to councillors of a past era on the basis that they approved ‘issues’ that might otherwise have amounted to wrongdoing.  The Shire has declined to tell us what those issues are.

For some reason, nobody in authority wants to carry out a proper investigation into such matters as the sale of the Old Convent and Mr. Hooper’s use of the Shire’s corporate credit card.

Nor are we ever likely to witness a full investigation by the Shire or any other body into allegations of bullying and abuse of authority contained in the Fitz Gerald Report.

…means no exoneration

You can’t have exoneration without first having a thorough investigation.  Thanks to successive floundering councils, over-cautious administrations, and a bullying state government bureaucracy, that too is something we are never likely to see.

Remember how perfunctorily the Department of Local Government dismissed what it called ‘historical issues’ and instructed Commissioner Best to hose down dissent in York?

Perhaps there is more than one delicate reputation depending precariously on the truth never coming out.

As Cr Saint pointed out a few months ago, the information handed over to police late last year was in all probability incomplete.  I suspect that the Shire deliberately withheld a good deal of relevant material.

I also suspect that some relevant material may have gone missing from the records.  We’ll never know.

As for the farce whereby the Corruption and Crime Commission returned documents to Graeme Simpson and James Best for them to carry out their own investigation—well, what more is there to say about that?

There seems to be little or no appetite on Council to pursue matters further.

Why Mr. Hooper should demand an investigation

Nothing of what I have said should be seen as a definitive judgement on my part of Mr. Hooper’s innocence or otherwise in relation to the allegations levelled at him.  He is of course entitled to the presumption of innocence.

The problem is that without proper investigation of all the available evidence, and without hearing his side of the story, nobody is in a position to make a judgement of that kind.

By the same token, WALGA is in no position to declare that Mr. Hooper has been exonerated. Neither is Mr. Hooper.  He is free to deny the allegations, but without an investigation that clears him, his reputation will remain under a cloud.

In the event of an investigation having such an outcome, I promise to make a comprehensive public apology for having ever doubted his integrity.  I would then encourage other York dissidents to do the same.

I must say, though, that if I were an innocent man accused of financial dishonesty, I would be clamouring for every allegation to be stringently investigated—every document scrutinised, every witness interrogated, every scrap of evidence weighed by the keenest of forensic minds.

But as the poet says:

Still the world is wondrous large—seven seas from marge to marge—
And it holds a vast of different kinds of man;
And the wildest dreams of Kew are the facts of Khatmandhu
And the crimes of Clapham chaste in Martaban.

(Rudyard Kipling, from In a Neolithic Age)

*******

BREAKING NEWS 

Minister for Local Government Tony Simpson resigns, citing lack of confidence in the Premier

Most people in York will be far from dismayed to learn that Tony Simpson, MLA for Darling Range, has stepped down from his position in Cabinet and will presumably serve out the remainder of this parliamentary term as a humble backbencher.

He has given as the reason for his resignation his belief that ‘the Premier’s leadership and the government’s direction are not serving the people of Western Australia.’

He said that he had resigned ‘reluctantly and with a heavy heart’, adding that he would not be the one ‘to drive a change of leadership’ but would give voice in the Liberal party room to his opinions on the topic.

Mr. Simpson will be remembered in York as the minister who on his department’s flawed advice, based in part on former councillor Pat Hooper’s infamous ‘minority report’, decided to sack our democratically elected shire council led by a popular reform-minded shire president, Matthew Reid.

He was also responsible, again on his department’s advice, for the catastrophic decision to appoint James Best, formerly mayor of South Perth, as commissioner to replace the sacked council.

That makes him, along with his advisers, indirectly responsible for such apparently inexplicable follies as the Shire's purchase of Chalkies at a grossly inflated price and an historically high and unjustified increase in our rates. 

Premier Barnett described Mr. Simpson as ‘a good minister’, saying he was sorry to see him go.

Perhaps the premier either never knew about or has forgotten the damage done to York and his government’s reputation by this foolish minister and his disastrous protégé, James Best.

Tony Simpson was not a good minister but a miserable failure.  He failed York, and he failed to implement his government’s program for local government amalgamation.

Let’s hope he isn’t replaced by somebody even less suited to the job.

17 September 2016