NO, MINISTER, THIS WON'T DO AT ALL

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This letter arrived in the post last week.  When I first read it, I didn’t know if I should laugh or cry.  After due deliberation, I decided that laughter would be best, but I did shed a tear or two over the putrefying corpse of democracy in Western Australia.

Readers may recall that on 10 August 2015 I posted on this blog a copy of the letter to which Minister Simpson’s dismissive missive purports to be a reply.  You will find that letter on the blog under the title ‘Another Open Letter to Minister Tony Simpson’.

It is, I admit, a long and complex letter.  It raises various issues connected with the Shire’s purchase, at James Best’s direction, of the Old Convent School (or ‘Chalkies’ as it is now more generally known).  It argues for the recognition of a moral dimension in actions, like Mr. Best’s, that may be valid at law but are dubious in context and reprehensible in their implementation.  Radical stuff, indeed.

Criminal Code, Section 83

In particular, I took Minister Simpson to task for promulgating a false, indeed ridiculous interpretation of section 83 of the Criminal Code, which applies to corrupt conduct on the part of public officers. 

In his reply to an earlier open letter jointly composed by my friend Jane Ferro and me, Mr. Simpson had opined (I won’t dignify his comments with the word ‘argued’) that a public officer acting within the scope of his lawful authority could not be charged with an offence under section 83.

How he came by that opinion is a mystery to me.  If it was based on legal advice, he should sack his lawyer.  If it was based on the advice of his departmental bureaucrats, he should get his director-general, Ms J Mathews, to send them on leave without pay for at least ten years.

If it was based on the advice of Ms Mathews, he badly needs a new director-general. And if he dreamed it up all by himself, he is too stupid to hold ministerial office and should straightaway resign or be fired.

With the help, if I may so put it, of two eminent judges of the WA Supreme Court, I was able to show that Minister Simpson’s opinion was mistaken—codswallop, in fact.  Notice that he doesn’t acknowledge his mistake.  That doesn’t surprise me.  He is a politician, after all, in a government that it grieves me to say is rolling inexorably downhill.

Corruption and Crime Commission

I’m astonished that the minister advises me to refer my allegations of possible corruption to the Corruption and Crime Commission.

As Minister Simpson well knows, the Commission is very unlikely to act on a complaint from a lowly citizen like me.  I’m fairly sure that if the Commission did miraculously decide to act, he would use his influence to stop any investigation into the conduct of his protégé, former commissioner Best, dead in its tracks. 

I believe he has done something of the kind before, towards the end of last year, when palpable, detailed evidence of corruption in the Shire of York, including evidence of credit card fraud, was presented to the Commission. 

As I’m sure Minister Simpson knows, and may conceivably have had a hand in, the Commission referred that evidence to Commissioner Best and Acting CEO Graeme Simpson, asking them to investigate all allegations against a former CEO and councillors. 

As everybody knows, because Mr. Best, with the help of his spin–doctors or ‘brand reputation managers’, released the news to the media and in an open letter to the residents of York, Messrs Best and Simpson mysteriously and improbably discovered that all such allegations were groundless. 

I believe Messrs Best and Simpson were lying.  I suppose it is possible that they were doing so off their own bat, but it seems likely they were acting on instructions from Minister Simpson and/or senior bureaucrats in his department.

In any case, as the Minister must know, the Commission decided some months ago to restrict its investigations to big fish, rather than dispensable minnows like former commissioner Best and the Shire of York. 

My ‘allegations of corruption’ would be better placed in the hands of the police—perhaps of the Fraud Squad—than those of the Commission.  I doubt, though, that the police would on such a matter as this pay attention to me or any other everyday citizen of York—especially if a minister of the crown moved to dissuade them from doing so.

It is Minister Simpson who should call on the police to investigate the sale and purchase of Chalkies.  I say that because as I pointed out in my letter of 7 August, he is the person who inflicted Mr. Best on the good people of York.  He must therefore accept much of the responsibility for the impact and consequences of Mr. Best’s calamitous six-month reign over our shire.

My views are not mine alone.  Many York residents share them.  There appears to be considerable dispute here as to whether Minister Simpson is a Machiavellian scoundrel or merely a fool.

This is his chance to prove that he is neither.  All he has to do is set himself the task of obtaining justice for the beleaguered people of York.

How about it, Minister?  Do you have the ticker for that?

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Seen the other day in the window of a house on Avon Terrace...

 

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Someone forgot to mention Chalkies...

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Allawuna landfill Application:  LATEST NEWS FROM AVRA

  Wheatbelt Joint Development Assessment Panel (JDAP)

  
As you may know, Council refused the amended application on the 10^th August.

 On the 31^st of August the JDAP similarly refused the application and it now heads back to the State Administrative Tribunal where it is listed for a final hearing  scheduled for four days commencing the 17^th November.

 In the meantime, the Interveners, of whom AVRA is one, must file application for continued participation in the proceeding by the 2^nd October and the application is listed for a hearing on the 8^th October.  

 Of most concern during the JDAP hearing was a statement from the Department of Environment Regulation to the effect that they could see no impediment to the issuing of a licence to the applicant should they obtain planning approval. 

 AVRA will be contesting the grounds for this by calling on our consultants to testify on the groundwater issues. The expert environmental witnesses are required to meet on the 6^th November and must file a joint statement on the 10^th November. 

 Stay tuned for further updates.

 Avon Valley Residents Association 

NOTES FROM UNDERGROUND

One mystery more or less solved—how much Commissioner Best was paid—and another mystery that remains unsolved—WTF did he do to earn it?

You may recall that the minutes for 6 July 2015 contained an appendix A to item 9.2.1.  Titled ‘An Unsustainable Path – York Shire Council Heading for Insolvency’, it cited the sum of $807,824 as having been incurred by the Shire since March 2014.

Some of us have concluded that the author of that appendix was none other than Commissioner Best, aided by Acting CEO Graeme ‘They’re all exemplary employees’ Simpson.

Even a cursory analysis of the document suggests that most of the sum in question would most probably have been incurred and expended during the latter part of financial year 2014-15—that is, during the calamitous reign of Commissioner Best.

I’m still reeling from the payment of $33,000 to Professional Public Relations (PPR) for ‘Brand reputation management and corporate communication’.  What will the tribe of unscrupulous corporate footpads think of next?

Governance

I published the appendix in this blog on 19 July.  It’s still there for you to read, if you enjoy the sensation of being amused and disgusted at the same time.

My present concern is with the item headed ‘Governance’.  This includes a payment to the Commissioner of $51,000. 

Later—I’m not quite sure when—this amount was increased to $63,000.  I can’t remember what the additional $12,000 was for.  Can anyone enlighten me?

But that’s not the whole story.  At last Monday’s Council meeting, in a rare moment of transparency, the Acting CEO told us that Mr. Best, in the guise of his company BBC Consulting, was paid $39,000 for his ‘visioning’ program in addition to his fee as commissioner.

Pressed for further details, the Acting CEO added that Minister Tony Simpson, when appointing Mr. Best, had authorised him to conduct the program in York at the Shire’s expense.

I don’t know what possessed the Acting CEO to say that.  A reliable source tells me it isn’t true.  Apparently Minister Simpson did nothing of the kind. 

In that case, it would seem that Mr. Best took it upon himself to inflict his ‘visioning program’ on the good folk of York.

If not the Minister, who authorised the contract?

And this is where we dive into the sewer.  You see, somebody acting as Council would have had to authorise the contract between BBC Consulting and the Shire. The only person in a position to do that was—you’ve guessed it—James Best. 

Am I the only one to catch the mephitic odour of an undeclared ‘financial interest’ here? 

Hold on though—perhaps the interest was declared.  Here’s a possible scenario. 

Commissioner James Best decides to contract BBC Consulting, proprietor James Best, to bestow upon the citizens of York the civilising benefits of several sessions of ‘visioning’, maybe with a sprinkling of ‘ideation’ and a ‘wordle’ or two to follow. 

Commissioner Best then recollects that he is in fact one and the same person as James Best, proprietor of BBC Consulting.  So he declares to himself as Commissioner that he has a financial interest in the proceedings, disqualifies himself from discussing and voting on the matter, then, as de jure Council of the day, authorises the transaction and directs the Acting CEO to implement payment.

Ah, but somebody in the Shire administration would have had to sign off on payment of the contract amount to James Best in his capacity as consultant and proprietor of BBC Consulting.

Was that person Acting CEO Simpson?  If not, who was it?

Questions

However this act of financial depredation was accomplished, it raises the following questions:

1.              Was the appointment of BBC Consulting authorised by Minister Simpson, as the Acting CEO has claimed?

2.              If so, precisely on what legislative basis did the Minister act, bearing in mind that he would have been effectively authorising Mr. Best to help himself to the Shire’s, i.e. our, financial resources? 

3.              If so, did the Shire receive written confirmation from the Minister’s office that the appointment had been so authorised?

4.              Further, if so, will the Acting CEO seek the Minister’s permission to table the relevant document?

5.              If Minister Simpson did not authorise the appointment, what steps did the Acting CEO take to ensure that payment to Mr. Best of $39,000 for his ‘visioning’ program was a legitimate use of Shire funds?

6.              Was the transaction a budgeted item?  If not, would it not have had to be approved by a majority of councillors and minuted accordingly?

7.              If the Minister did not authorise the appointment, and the appointment was not budgeted, where in the minutes are Mr. Best’s appointment of his company, i.e. himself, to run the visioning program, and the payment to him of $39,000, recorded?

8.              How many ‘visioning’ sessions were actually held?

9.              How many people attended each one?

10.          How many were cancelled, or postponed but never actually held?

11.          How many such sessions did Commissioner Best arrange but fail to turn up for?

12.          Do Council and/or the Acting CEO consider that the people of York got value for money from BBC Consulting?

13.          If not, what steps can and will Council take to recover the sum expended, or part of it?

At a rough estimate, I would say that Mr. Best’s part-time sojourn in York as Commissioner cost the York community at least $103,000, made up as follows:  $51,000 for being our commissioner; $39,000 for his ‘visioning’ program; and $13,000 for God knows what, unless it was the cost of meals, accommodation and travel expenses, which I suspect was in fact an additional but so far unspecified burden on the Shire.

And we shouldn’t forget the purchase of Chalkies for $625,000, this time not for his own benefit (and certainly not for ours!) but for that of his friends at Faversham House.

A little bird told me that Mr. Best has been touting for consultancy work in other Wheatbelt towns, telling people there what a wonderful job he did in York. 

Frankly, I despair.

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  Rating or rorting?  Never mind which, we’re rooted (again)

GAME OF THRONES

                                                                                           From the land where law is king

                                                                                         The rates are the true embodiment

                                                                                         Of everything that’s excellent.

                                                                                         Pay, peasants, or it’s off to court:

                                                                                         We’ll sell you up and sell you short.

                                                                                           
                                                                                                  (Apologies to Gilbert and Sullivan)          

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The table above comes from the Sunday Times for 9 August 2015.

In the metropolitan area, people are screaming because annual rates have risen by between 1.95% (Stirling) and 8% (Victoria Park).

In the country, the range is 0.2% (Ashburton) to 7.95% (Waroona).

Hold on—where’s the Shire of York, with its fabulous 13% rise?

The Sunday Times asked every local authority, including York, for information about the rates set for the current financial year.

It appears that the Shire of York ignored the request.  No prizes for guessing why.

Acting CEO Simpson, James Best and their 'exemplary employees' have made York a laughing stock (or as John Elkington might say, have 'diminished' and 'undermined' the Shire).

Colin Barnett and Tony Simpson—over to you (I’m joking, of course).

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‘Coup de grass’ (sorry, I couldn’t resist it)

Readers may remember that on 7 June I posted former CEO Ray Hooper’s ringing endorsement of Green Planet Grass, the firm that laid down artificial grass for the bowling greens at the Recreation Centre.

I’ve since been told that the same firm provided the grass for the tennis courts.  The whole job would have cost tens of thousands of dollars.

Imagine my surprise on seeing the photographs below, taken this morning by a friend.  Something appears to have gone badly wrong with the surface of the courts. 

My first thought was that the job would have been carried out under warranty, so the Shire should call on Green Planet Grass to repair the damage.

Well, as it turns out, the Shire did exactly that.

But Green Planet Grass has refused to honour the warranty—and rightly so, because, as the firm points out, the courts haven’t been maintained.

Like real grass, you can’t leave artificial grass to fend for itself.  It has to be looked after, treated with tender loving care, much like the real thing.

So—what went wrong?

It’s obvious that for some reason, the Shire has fallen down on the job.

Though maybe not only the Shire—some of the blame would have to be laid at the door of the Tennis Club, if the club committee failed to give the Shire a nudge to get the job done.

And as Mr. Richard Bliss recently reminded us in a famous letter to YDCM, the buck stops with the boss. 

Come on, Acting CEO Simpson, tell us why you’ve allowed the tennis court surface to deteriorate in this way and what you propose to do about it.

 Perhaps it’s time we put you out to grass.  

Another blog joins the fray…

The York Consortium and I welcome the advent of a new blog set up three weeks ago specifically, as it says, to scrutinise the foolish, evasive, misleading and downright dishonest answers, or failures to answer, issued at Council meetings by Acting CEO Simpson (and occasionally other members of Shire staff) to questions on notice and from the gallery.

Our blog, The REAL Voice, is not connected with the new blog, ‘Shire of York Q & A’.  Nor, I believe, is our friendly rival ‘The official unofficial site’ at http://shireofyork6302.blogspot.com.au/.

This is how the new blog introduces itself and defines its purpose:

"It is becoming increasingly obvious that Shire of York senior employees have little or no aptitude when answering questions from members of the public.

This blog is dedicated to some of those questions and ludicrous answers.

Any member of the public who wishes to air a grievance in regard to this may do so on this blog.

Please send a copy of the question and subsequent response by the Shire.

Any scans or images must be in a JPEG format.

If you wish to remain anonymous, or wish to redact addresses and telephone numbers, please do so prior to forwarding any documents."

The new blog’s address is http://shireofyorkqanda.blogspot.com.au/.  When we first read that address, we assumed that the blog was initiated by the ABC’s chief resident leftie Tony Jones, but he assures us he had nothing to do with it.

We exhort readers to follow the new blog and feed it with relevant material.  The more the merrier, we say.

MESSAGE FROM A DISTANT GALAXY—A GLIMPSE OF THE WORLD TO COME?

 Warm and fuzzy news from Walga, the planet of dreams, visionings, ideations and vain imaginings…

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(The West Australian 18 August 2015)

Meanwhile, back in the real world of Western Australian local government…

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http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-06/vincent-mayor-john-carey-angry-after-council-reforms-rejected/6678788

Why we love Big Brother—WA premier talks tough to big spending councils

Local government?  Yeah, they’re on notice.  Right now.  The rate increases householders faced, in my view, were excessive… many of these local govts are grossly overstaffed, they pay themselves too much…. we have CEOs in metropolitan Perth who get paid well above what the Premier gets paid…. there has been a culture of increasing rates with a lack of accountability… and [you, the councils] are going to be more accountable and your costs, your staffing, your rate increases are going to be public and people are going to be able to compare across councils….there needs to be efficiencies in local govt [and now] Big Brother is going to be looking over their shoulder

6PR, Gary Adshead’s morning show, Interview with Premier 6 August 2015   

If you’re just the mayor of Toytown 
Or a mighty CEO, 
We’ll fork out for the best hotels 
Any place you want to go,
We’ll fund your junket to the moon
Or any other star,
All paid for from the public purse 
If you really want to go that far...

      

(apologies to LEONARD COHEN)

It takes a worried man to sing a worried song…

Colin Barnett, WA Premier

Minister for Local Government Tony Simpson  

Before the fiddlers have fled,

Before they ask us to pay the bill,

And while we still have a chance,

Let’s face the music and dance.

IRVING BERLIN

BLISS BALLS: POSTSCRIPT

Readers will recall Richard Bliss’s letter, ‘Brevity is the soul of wit’ published in YDCM on 5 August 2015.

If you missed it when it appeared, you can find it posted on this blog on the same day under the saucy heading ‘Bliss Balls’.

Here’s my reply.  It appeared in today’s YDCM.

 

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I trust that exchange will end our confrontation.  I have other things to get on with, and I’m sure Mr. Bliss wants time to continue with his painstaking research into the sexual peculiarities of characters in the Old Testament.

And now, a peace offering:

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Don't they look scrumptious?  Enjoy!

You can find the recipe for these delicious little beauties at
http://www.maxabellaloves.com.au/2015/07/lunch-box-loving-nut-free-bliss-balls.html 

What I like about this recipe is that it’s nut-free.  If only life were like that!

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Speaking of nuts...

Found on Facebook

Trevor Randell

1 hr

Rant number 457.
Who is this Jane woman who wrote that load of CRAP in the local paper in letters to the editor? Does she want a lawsuit or something? Where does she get her facts? Out of a Kellogg's Box? OM f......NG God! They just get worse! And someone said she's going up for council! Good luck with that Mad Woman!

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Ladies and gentlemen: it looks like we’re in for a very dirty election campaign. 

It seems the old guard is on the march again, armed with insults, distortions and lies.  Mr. Bliss fired the first shot, aimed at me.  Well, I don’t mind that sort of thing so long as it isn’t directed against people I like, respect and admire.

Mr. Bliss did me a favour.  He gave me something to laugh and write about.  Like many wordsmiths, I spend my days in a funk that my talent, meagre as it may be, will suddenly dry up and leave me, as the poet says, ‘mute and inglorious’.  To some extent, it’s folk like Mr. Bliss that keep me going, and I thank them for it.  I hope he lets off another shot at me. I so much enjoyed the last one.

Mr. Randell chose a different target.  He attacked a friend and ally of mine by means of a crude, cowardly and cretinous diatribe.  Mr. Bliss, may he live long and prosper, displayed in his effusion some glimmerings of intelligence and wit.  Ranting Randell, alas, is not in the same league.  There is some evidence in what he wrote on Facebook that he may possess a spinal cord with a knob on the end, but that is probably as far as it goes.

For the record, Jane Ferro is sane, kind, intelligent, generous, eloquent and wise, all qualities with which Mr. Randell would appear to be totally unfamiliar.  As a business owner, she is an asset to York.  If elected to Council, she will be a still greater asset.  If you are qualified to vote in the forthcoming council election, please give very serious thought to voting for Jane. 

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IMPORTANT NOTICE

Meeting for Mid-West/Wheatbelt JDAP

TO DECIDE ON YORK LANDFILL APPROVAL

Date:     31 August 2015 (Monday)

Time:     3pm

Venue:   YORK TOWN HALL

CURRENT AGENDA :

http://planning.wa.gov.au/7908.asp