2013 review or Dodging bullets ?

Seems the good people of Werriwa did what the nation as a whole didn’t…they dodged a bullet in this month’s election. Kent Johns was not elected into the Federal parliament and it seems according to the attached media a good thing.  Mr Johns has a somewhat ‘interesting’ approach to the workings of Sutherland council where he is mayor and it would be fair to suggest he would have brought with him to Federal politics the same ethic.

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/sutherland-council-favours-those-with-liberal-connections-20130920-2u5dl.html

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/cloud-over-exministers-campaign-donations-20130920-2u5df.html

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/rainbow-connections-20130920-2u580.html

What is more of concern to me is that  others mentioned in the articles are now on our payroll… Matt Daniels is mentioned often and the SHM clearly identifies him as the 2 IC in Liverpool…. not bad for someone recently appointed, who came to us from the Dept of Planning I would have thought the 2IC title would be with the other executive director Julie Hately.   The fact remains, we seem to be a liberal  (power broker)  job hot spot . I don’t know either of the latest appointees personally but Googling them isn’t inspiring. The ‘well connected’ Shayne Mallard, Senior Policy Adviser at Liverpool City Council, as per his LinkedIn account, (again just Google his name, which is what I did) to the Mayor of Liverpool, Liberal Ned Mannoun. This strikes me as very interesting considering we rate payers are forking out what has been suggested a 6 figure pay packet for his policy advice, (BTW whose policy, LCC or LNP?) I would have thought department heads could provide LCC policy advice as part of their job. Perplexing when the former Mayor struggled for and wasn’t  supplied with a full time assistant from what I’ve heard , while our new Mayor has both an assistant and an adviser.  Is the GM  playing favorites?

Please note before I forget to mention it,  Councillors rates of pay are on exhibition and you have an opportunity to comment, but time is running out, also at this coming council meeting the election of the New Deputy and committee members will be done, won’t that be interesting considering the mess it created last year.

Seems my yearly evaluation of Liverpool events brings with it more media than the past, and clearly not that much of it is good if what is above is an example. On the positive side the Mayor has improved his public speaking ability and sounds less loopy and embarrassing a year in.

So let’s see where this year has taken us,

September:  Liberals elected on mass with a clear majority, one independent  who  tends to vote in line with the majority more often than not, and 4 Labor Councillors.

Lots of promises have been made, some new committees and several  new staff. Shuffling of staff is an expected part of any new council; however we have seen through this last twelve months the removal/loss of some pretty good people, people who did actually put the needs of Liverpool above the needs of corporations imo. I miss the days when I couldn’t tell who the previous GM would have cast his vote for in an election, I spent a good deal of time chatting with him and to his absolute credit I never quite knew where his political  allegiance  lay… not so convinced nowadays.

Things that have happened: We’ve had Bollywood, a fun event for the community, and we’ve had a not so camera shy Mayor on any station that would have him. He’s also pictured in the above articles.

Council has spent more on ‘team building and education of Councillors’ than anytime in the past and as a bonus all that money is being spent on businesses based outside our city , in places like Wollongong and Terrigal.  Wouldn’t you think working to support local business would be a priority?  I shouldn’t laugh at that however as a ‘recipient’ of councils  ‘support’ my business is closed and the majority of my clients now work outside Liverpool.  Some Liberal Councillors also had the pleasure of travelling to the US on a ‘fact finding’ mission earlier this year – on your rates dollars.

The Mayors majority has reworked the parking strategy, even though they had numerous opportunities to voice their concerns, and share their opinion in the last council. The now Mayors failure to even show up at all clearly indicated his lack of interest at the time and at a cost it now seems we the rate payers are bearing. On any number of occasions when we, the committee, were seeking  input from councillor’s he and his colleagues at no time mentioned any of the concerns we the ratepayers are now paying to have changed, YES this does annoy me because the opportunities were there and they simply either failed to show up or didn’t voice them.  This now seems to me to have been an expensive election ploy, one they knew they could trot out later and work to their advantage. That btw was not only a Liberal strategy at the last election however they have been able to capitalise better than their Labor associates. The Promised CCTV is on its way but it won’t be fully monitored and will bring with it free WiFi but at what ultimate cost, it already cost us an extraordinary council meeting, as I’ve mentioned in previous posts and the council did manage a hefty donation from the previous Federal governments proceeds of crime grants, credit I believe to Federal MP Chris Hayes.

The other thing that has been continued with the new Councillors is they have managed to embarrass themselves onto a few committees (please refer my posts in October 2012) and now simply fail to attend approx 50% of those to which they were elected. For some liberal Councillors achieving 50% would be a win, all this as at the time they worked diligently to exclude Labor Councillors except on a few token committees no one else wanted.

We have had leave a couple of truly dedicated executive staff members this year  namely David Tuxford and Milan Marecic who to their credit have now found fulfilling work elsewhere. I have kept in touch with David and  he is happy and working in a council that shows ethics and community care as their core values. We have had a number of others accept redundancy and/or  leave which is also our loss but working in a such an  environment could be more than we should ask of anyone. Best regards to Sandra Kubecka and soon Arvind Lal who are also on  the ‘lost to us’ list. I wish them well.

Achievements/fulfilled promises: Actually one main one, there has been a lot of talking and plenty of promises, but to date, the only fulfilled promise was the removal of some of the paid parking conditions, i.e. no meters on weekends etc and the provision of all day parking back in the CBD in two of the  council parking stations.

I attend the Economic Development committee, which replaced the CBD Committee, as an observer  and Council staff have managed to produce some truly lovely brochures.

One of the most disturbing things that has happened in the last twelve months is the Mayoral minute changes, again, members of the community actually voiced their concerns only to be acknowledged by Cllr Hadchiti as ‘we know who they are’. From there they proceeded to ignore the concerns. Hmmm open and involved community – I think not. This is the same Councillor who arranged and sought support for  a $5,000 donation for a  local private school  for their fete and a council staffed stand for the same fete outside the well advertised and needs based application process LCC has in place. I do hope all 70+ other local schools receive the same diligence from said Councillor.  Spending money from the floor of council without due diligence was started by Former Councillor Gary Lucas but his ability pales compared to what happens now. You’d think the ‘bucket of money’ was theirs 😦

The Mayoral majority seems to pretty much do as they choose, on another item recently the council staffer, former Cllr Napolitano advised strongly against a particular decision, again it was Cllr Hadchiti, who asked if it was illegal to which she replied, no but it’s not in line with councils undertakings of transparency etc, again he asked if it were illegal, she again said no  he then proceeded to have it pushed through. Nice, Mrs Napolitano was employed why? If we’re going to ignore council staff advice why bother installing a former ally if you’re not going to listen anyway? We could have saved some money.

I might seem a little off side with what is happening in council, but I’m not alone, Cllrs Stanley and Shelton ask many of the same questions, over and over only to be laughed at (sadly this is literally), dismissed and then over ridden.  This is merely the tip of the iceberg. As I’ve said in years past I don’t want this to be all doom and gloom but other than the couple of positives I’ve already mentioned there have been way too many questionable actions during the last year.  Please also note I’m not listing them all just touching on a few that come immediately to mind.

Seems having a Liberal dominated council, a Liberal Mayor and Liberal State and Federal member is not swaying the determination of the present Liberal Government in relation to the Gigantic intermodal being thrust upon our residents, nor has it helped those looking for noise mitigation at Casula, the threat of the airport at Badgery’s Creek reigns supreme yet again (however now being supported by Wesroc – whose president is our own Liberal  Cllr Hadchiti)  and then the politicising of the impact at CPAC was the last straw – the Mayors blatant campaigning for liberal colleagues was a step to far. To give him credit he is consistent, he did the same at the No Intermodal rally and blatantly excluded all others to ensure his colleague was elected to the Fed Parliament at the last election.

If we’re spending all our hard earned rates money on  dominant Liberal representation I’d like some action please… promises are cheap, actually we are paying dearly for them and we’ve had plenty of them…but no real action to support our residents to date.

Oh and just when things seemed expensive its worth knowing the council is AGAIN seeking the re-instating  of the 9% rates increase we’ve had over the last five years. Remember that promise, if we add the 9% (worked out to much more in  some instances) we won’t need to borrow money, haha, we’ve now borrowed in EXCESS OF $50m AS WELL AS THE 9% – and will there be a 5 year limit or will it be approved of as a permanent fixture? I know many who simply cannot afford to continue to pay the extra rates, especially when  the purpose was to eliminate additional loans, what a joke and the jokes on us… YOU WILL BE ASKED TO APPROVE THE CONTINUATION OF THE LEVY, you have to speak up, you have to let council know your views,(even if you don’t agree with me)  if you leave it to the few of us who regularly comment, we will be dismissed as we were when the Mayoral minutes were put to the community.

As always I would be delighted to print a hefty list of positives, so go on, send them in, and I’ll publish them… and in fairness there are a couple but is it enough? I think not.

While I know council is taking credit for the likes of Costco and some others coming to Liverpool and bringing some much needed jobs,  I think we should also remember that having the M5 & M7 and the Mega modal might also be reasons some of these large companies are coming to Liverpool, but while patting themselves on the back, consider how many long term jobs would be coming to Liverpool if we were getting a technology park (along the lines of Norwest) instead of the intermodal and how many health and safety risks would not be coming along with it.

Remember this is my opinion/view of what has happened and what I’ve seen, you are welcome to disagree I am more than happy to print your view as well. Lastly please may  I have a list of real positives for 2014 I really would like a positive list, regardless of who makes it so, there is twelve months so I live in hope all the promises come to fruition and I can prepare a great list of achievements in September 2014.

Happy days, see you at the council meeting tonight – please send in your lists and don’t forget to voice any or all your concerns.

Pre Poll and people

Today was the first time I had a chance to work on Liverpool’s Pre Polling station, and I have to admit I was delighted with the camaraderie of the workers of all persuasions, it was a really pleasant environment of passionate people supporting their particular party. Our newest Greens member Jack worked on the polling place for 6 hours and working with like minded people was a great initiation to election time. Most of the voters were pleasant and the few that weren’t stormed past as they do cussing and grunting their way past at times 14 workers.  At one stage the Libs had 11 people at the one polling place at the same time, over kill perhaps but until the last two arrived it had been light hearted and friendly.

Deputy Mayor Mazhar Hadid

Then along came two Liverpool Councillors (3 if you count the Labor Councillor Geoff Shelton who was on his way to work) but the two Liberal Councillors arrived later in the afternoon and spent a relatively short time on the polling station. All was fine until Liberal Clr Hadid cornered a voter,  this poor man was not only being told how to vote but Cllr Hadid completely land locked him by putting his arm right around his shoulder… while the  voter seemed a bit uncomfortable, (no guarantees there but he looked uncomfortable)  Cllr Hadid persisted in giving instructions. The nice young Labor worker Branden proceeded to walk over to the voter, as one does on a polling place and waited briefly while Cllr Hadid continued to talk at the voter, when he took a brief moment Branden quickly interceded and offered the voter his How to vote. No biggie one would think but Cllr Hadid then lead the voter towards the door, where I passed him a Greens HTV. Again one might consider the arm around the shoulders a little over the top but the voter proceeded in to vote. Shortly thereafter Cllr Hadid took young Branden aside and berated him for giving the voter a how to vote and supposedly interrupting, leaving the Labor worker a little shaken and very much surprised by the quietly aggressive and authoritative  way in which he was addressed.  Again Brendan returned to his task of handing out HTV’s to all who came to vote, albeit a little shaken he was fine and wondering if he should report the incident. A short while later, Cllr Hadid again took the young man aside and again berated him for the same incident, this time however the young man was more shaken and a little angry that he was again addressed in such a manner. While the Cllr didn’t raise his voice, and what he actually said was not heard by me, the young man said  his  tone made him feel very uncomfortable and I consider it completely out of place, turning what had been a lovely day into an unpleasant and uncomfortable situation for this young volunteer. Having spent a bit of time with this young fellow today, I would have to say he was one of the most pleasant and generous people I’ve worked with on a polling station, he was supportive of my poll worker Jack and helpful to all he came into contact with of all political persuasions, as were all the other workers … so what the hell happened? We had one self-righteous, opinionated councillor who thought he had the authority over another individual to flex his supposed muscle. What a sad state of affairs when an older man considers himself more important than another and berates him for doing his job.

I am glad I was there to witness this, talk him through it and have had the permission of Branden to share it,  and I do so as a reminder that polling places can be pleasant and they can be less so and it often depends on the attitude of the workers involved. (please note these were my observations and opinions based on what I saw and the conversations I had with others)Thankfully up to this incident all the workers had had a very pleasant experience, they’d laughed together, helped each other and acknowledged that while their particular party may be different they were all working for something they were passionate about. It is also a reminder that one person can change the dynamic by their attitude and manner in which they address each other.  Sadly in this instant it was Liverpool’s deputy mayor who showed a less than tolerant and compassionate caring nature not the inexperienced young volunteer. This should also be a reminder to all polling place workers that we are there to share our passion, work cohesively and respect each other at all times. Our policies may not be the same, some are even easier to find than others but we are all there for the same reason, to help our respective party gain a better vote.

With only a week to go until the biggest volunteer day in most of our years, a little time considering the positives all these amazing volunteers bring to the event, they are worth their weight in gold and need to be appreciated not berated, whether by a voter, a fellow worker or even the candidate.  Election day is BIG, everyone on a polling stations works very hard and often a very long day. As you walk past them and take (or not) their paperwork, remember that if they are Labor, Green or whatever, very,  very few of them do it for personal gain, they volunteer their time, they work hard and deserve respect.  I expect if every voter had to do a few hours volunteer work on a polling place their attitude to them would be very different… so please walk a mile in their shoes, acknowledge their passion and commitment even if you don’t want what they are offering, it really is the least we can do.

Please if you see me out and about come up and say hello… one of the best parts of polling places is the number of people I run into I know from somewhere else, and the opportunity, albeit brief to catch up and say hi. 

Also I will be at the Intermodal/CPAC rally tomorrow… come up and say hi.

 

Lastly, as has always been my practice below is the How to Vote For Hughes… please feel free to share it, our group considered long and hard on each of the parties and how closely (or distant) they were from our party platform, issues and beliefs, not an easy task when other ‘progressive’ parties chose not to run in our electorate. (click on the image to enlarge it) and remember it is only a guide, who you choose is up to you – and when considering whether or not to Vote Greens 1, ask yourself this: If Greens Adam Bandt in Melbourne is not representing the people of Melbourne and doing so well, why the heck have the two old parties preferenced each other instead…?? Real representation, consultation and consideration is a Vote 1 Green away. (big thank you to Jack for Scanning these for me as my scanner is dead)