Monday, February 20, 2012

Richo...you for real mate?

Graeme Richardson. Powerbroker. Backslapper. Listen to yourself.


Sack Mr Sheen for supposedly bringing about a challenge?

By your own yardstick then, what should have been done with Julia Gillard for her knife-wielding ousting of our then Prime Minister?

Oh, that is right, it was not premeditated, was it. She just sort of got up, had her cocoa pops, then thought...hmmm, think I will take over as PM today.

My problem is this.

I see a Prime Minister I simply cannot trust.

Heavens to murgatroyd, even the infamous one-eyed Richo brain cortex must take issues with someone who cannot be trusted.

Someone who has so blatantly lied to the Australian people, particularly when that person is running the bloody country!

Over many years you have done your fair share of banging on about people who cannot be trusted! Where's the consistencey mate? Where's the conviction??

Like a bus driver, a pilot, a taxi driver, my damned mineral-drilling dentist. I have to have faith, have trust with the highest office in the land. The office of the Prime Minister.

What once were clear waters is now a churning vortex of sludge as factions, powerbrokers, truth, half-truths, and blatant dishonesty swirl with the vengeance of a captured yak.

From where I sit, surrounded by bills I cannot pay and patting a scrawny cat I now feed on cheap stuff, politics in this country, today, has jack shite to do with answering to and looking after the Australian people.

It is about power, about wannabes, about backroom wheelin' & dealin', about...yes Mr Richardson, sheer hypocrisy.

I am very disillusioned.

What we need is a fresh face. Someone who will make a promise and....stick to it! Win back the trust; win back the faith of the Aussie people.

Hmmm...having said all that, Richo, you old shitstirrer, you may not have an idea of what I say. You should, but I doubt you want to. Does not fit into power broking plans.

I am just a simple, non-complicated Irish migrant now Aussie-voter who is struggling to survive in a country that has been taken down into a seething apocalyptic abyss.

You live in noddyland mate. The hypocrisy of your '...I’m staggered...' statement, is proof.

As for South Australia and this mob of Labor Government leaders? The apples never fall far from the tree! Thank you Mister Isaac Newton.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Public Trustee Parliamentary Hearing: In Secret!

UPDATE. Tuesday afternoon.

I was contacted this afternoon and told by a Committee Member that he and the other Members know nothing about any in-camera request, and that no such request has been acceded to. This will only occur on the day, Thursday at 9.15am.


Most certainly, the emails I received from Committee support staff over the past few weeks suggest otherwise. It does not involve rocket science to get a handle on comments such as '...I believe you will have a wasted journey if you come in...'. Anyway, to the credit of the Committee this has now been clarified. I & the media await Thursday morning with bated breath. I am aware that Public Trustee WILL make an in-camera request!

Original Post


For many years, the Office of the Public Trustee (PT) was constantly in the spotlight with disturbing stories about workplace bullying, corruption, and shocking customer service.

On 31 March 2008, the Statutory Authorities Review Committee resolved to '...inquire into, and report on, the operations of the Office of the Public Trustee...' The findings of that Inquiry were tabled in Parliament December 2009.

As the Committee was '...dissatisfied with a number of practices...', PT is required to report back in accordance with Recommendation 13. This is scheduled for Thursday 16 February inst, this coming Thursday.

The Committee advised me over the weekend, that the session is to be 'in camera'. There is to be no transparency.

The Inquiry, up to now, has been very transparent.

As Public Trustee is responsible for more than one billion dollars of clients’ money, this sudden request for secrecy is disturbing.

From a personal viewpoint, it is a kick in the guts.

I have sacrificed a lot over the past 12 years, banging on about Workplace Bullying, Sexual Harassment, and corruption.

So, here we are at the proverbial 'end of the road', with access to be denied to the media, to the public, and to yours truly.

I did ask if I could make a submission to Committee Members to argue the merits of transparency, and that Public Trustee's request to be in-camera is not appropriate.

Unfortunately, all I got was '...never known a committee to refuse...' such a request.

If I had a dollar for each time I was stonewalled over the years with a similar stance, I would be a very rich leprechaun!

Nevertheless, I have canvassed Members of Parliament and alerted the media. NEVERTHELESS, my gut feeling is that no one gives a toss!

No doubt, PT management will regale in their claims of how the culture has changed, how the bullying has been vanquished, how staff is all now happy little vegemites.

Sorry, but not according to the constant stream of information lobbing into my inbox.