Carpenter’s Aboriginal Literacy Disaster (Part 2)

Carpenter’s failed Aboriginal Literacy Strategy (ALS)

Alan Carpenter's capture by the linguists in Aboriginal Education was highlighted in How Carpenter sent Aboriginal Literacy Backwards. We saw how he fast tracked schools in his own electorate at the expense of impoverished Aboriginal kids Carpenter: My Schools before Fitzroy Crossing School. That’s not corruption or misconduct, that just the spoils of being the Minister for Education.

With no idea of how to address the problem of poor Aboriginal literacy, he introduced more misguided and damaging nonsense. He announced a new Aboriginal Literacy Strategy.

A half-competent literacy teacher could predict this vacuous strategy would fail and compound the problem. Questions were asked in parliament by Barbara Scott MLC. Why weren't phonics, spelling and spelling skills, dictation and dictionary skills, part of the Aboriginal Literacy Strategy?

Well what was the result?

The Aboriginal Literacy Strategy was introduced into 43 remote community schools. The table below shows the appalling results. Remember these Commonwealth WALNA benchmarks are very low and not demanding – students only have to score 19% in some so-called tests to achieve the benchmark - not the 50% you would expect.

% of Students Achieving the WALNA Benchmark
		2004	2005	2006
Grade 3	Reading	67.8	47.8	47.9
Grade 5	Reading	46.5	31.9	42
Grade 7	Reading	16.8	19.1	15.3

The results in the Table for Grade 3 Reading test show 67.4% of Aboriginal kids achieved these pathetically low benchmark in 2004 - before Carpenter’s Aboriginal Literacy Strategy was introduced. Well in 2005 in the first year of his bold new strategy or balls-up the number of Grade 3 kids reaching the reading benchmark collapsed to 47.8% - a 30% drop. That is after Carpenter stepped in to fix the problem. That’s why the Desert Rat calls Alan Carpenter possibly Western Australia's worst Minister for Education ever.

Any competent Minister would ask questions and be demanding answers. No such luck, the following year only 47.9% reached the benchmark – no improvement! Carpenter had done immeasurable harm with this feel-good failed strategy and it still continue to fail Aboriginal children. Remember, Carpenter said teaching Aboriginal English commonly known as “Pigeon” English would fix the problem.

All other Grade 3 tests in writing, spelling and numeracy show no improvement.

The Grade 5 WALNA Reading test showed a drop of 32% in the number of Aboriginal kids reaching the benchmark in 2005 and they were still 10% below the score before Carpenter’s new Aboriginal Literacy Strategy was implemented. In 2006, only 42 % of Grade 5 students achieved the Reading benchmark.

In the Grade 7 Reading test the story is the same with only 15% of students achieving the ridiculously low benchmarks.

The Desert Rat doesn't doubt that Aboriginal affairs is genuinely dear to Alan Carpenter's heart and that he is frustrated - but the tragedy is the tyranny of his good intentions, that he has no idea of the damage that he has done.

That said, the Desert Rat has high hopes and expectations that new CEO Sharyn O’Neill will tackle the problem and bring to account the fluffy authors of this failed strategy. The real danger is that they will metamorphose themselves into a new fix-it program – to which they will not put their name.

Put them back into the classroom Sharyn, like you have done with the discredited regional office "literacy consultants" and give them a reality check. In truth many of these consultants and managers actually hate classroom teaching.

Journalists: "CCC secret hearings Insidious and Sinister”

CCC targets Media and Centre - Right faction members

Western Australians and the Desert Rat rely on the media to lift the veil of secrecy surrounding the Carpenter – (McGinty) Government and expose its internal machinations. The two biggest threats to the power and hegemony of the Social Left controlled Carpenter Government are the media and the Centre - Right factions of the Labor Caucus.

McGinty's spat with and antipathy for Paul Armstrong, the editor of The West Australian, and his aversion to the Centre-Right are well known. Both these groups have come under sustained attack by both the Government and the Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC).

The CCC was criticised in late 2007 when it emerged it had secretly interrogated a number of Perth journalists. In 2006/2007 the Commission held 40.5 days of open hearings and 22 days of secret hearings.

The Desert Rat agrees with the journalists’ union, the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance, when it described the secret hearings of the Corruption and Crime Commission as “insidious and sinister”.

The journalists were threatened with “fines and lengthy imprisonment” if they told anyone about their attendance. Under CCC law, witnesses can be fined $60,000 and imprisoned for three years if they disclose their attendance or discuss it with others.

The journalists were ABC TV’s Sue Short, Channel 9’s David Cooper, Channel 7’s Gary Adshead and The West Australian’s Robert Taylor.

Short and Cooper appeared before the Commission on 26 June over “…identifying the person or persons who on or about 12 May 2006 provided information and/or assisted her (Short) in identifying the new suspect for the murder of Pamela Lawrence as being in custody for another homicide”. (The appalling Andrew Mallard miscarriage of justice)

Adshead and Taylor were two of 21 witnesses who appeared before the Parliamentary Inspector of the Commission, in late June and early July when he investigated the leaking of a Commission document to Parliament on former Labor MP John D’Orazio.

“We are bringing it (the secret hearings) to public attention because we are deeply disturbed by its impact on the practice of journalism,” Alliance WA Branch Secretary Michael Sinclair-Jones was quoted in The Australian Thursday 8 November. He said the hearing had the characteristics of a star chamber with interrogations and investigations held in secret and people who were unwilling to testify threatened with severe penalties. “These journalists could not tell their families, their boss, their union…it’s police state stuff.

“The blanket suppression of free speech at secret hearings that nobody is allowed to know even occurred is deeply troubling. But we are even more concerned that journalists are being secretly threatened with long jail sentences and massive fines for protecting confidential sources. “Such inquisitorial powers would have been unthinkable 10 years ago. Press freedom and democracy will inevitably suffer if the secret state powers are used to intimidate journalists and crush leaks.”

Chief Justice exposes CCC Humbug

Am I A criminal? I haven't a clue

The Desert Rat scratched his head as he asked himself that question. McGinty and Carpenter must have moral insight which few of us comprehend, when we examine the carryings-on of their government and their Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC).

The charging of witnesses giving evidence to the CCC inquiry into Smith’s Beach, in respect of minor matters of recall, is sinister. No criminal or corrupt conduct was found and much taxpayer’s money has been wasted already. Peoples’ businesses and careers have been destroyed and they have been left with hundreds of thousands of dollars of legal bills. For what benefit the Desert Rat asks?

The duty of the Director of Public Prosecutions is to prosecute a charge if there is sufficient evidence to gain a conviction and it is in the public interest to proceed. The relentless pursuit of Burke and Grill by the government and the CCC goes beyond the test; is it in the public interest?

It seems to the Desert Rat that the CCC’s harassment and hounding of Burke and Grill, shows the McGinty-Carpenter Government's open contempt for the idea that the law defines the scope of the Government's interest in you; that you can be on the wrong side of the Government only by being on the wrong side of the law.

If Burke and Grill have committed a crime, arrest them; otherwise, leave them alone.

A recent case involving lobbying was heard in the Tasmanian Supreme Court by their Chief Justice. The decision and his sentencing comments outline clearly what the Desert Rat had thought and previously written in an article for ”The West Australian” which was not published.

The case involved the recently resigned Deputy Premier Bryan Green who still faces a retrial on corruption charges. John White a former Labor Health Minister, now a businessman, lobbied the Minister to extend his company’s contract just before the last election. Throughout the negotiating process Mr White lobbied for a secure contract for his business which provided him with a very substantial income. The agreement gave Mr White’s company a monopoly for three years.

The Chief Justice said, “He (White) lobbied (Deputy Premier) Mr Green's advisors and he lobbied Mr Green himself. He lobbied Mr Price, then Secretary of the Labor Party. It is likely that his lobbying called in aid the fact that he was a former Minister in a Labor Government, and a member of the Labor Party in the same faction as Mr Green. It is also likely that because of these facts, Mr White expected that the Minister would look upon his request favourably. He ultimately did just that, but there was nothing unlawful about Mr White lobbying whomever he chose to lobby and putting such arguments as he thought appropriate to support his case.”

The Chief Justice continued, “Mr White refused to sign a version of the agreement that was to his satisfaction in all respect bar one. It did not provide that the Minister would not exercise his discretion to appoint a competitor to his company. He was entitled to take that action and that point of view. Mr White continued to lobby vigorously for his point of view. In the end, very shortly before the announcement of the election and upon the instructions of Mr Green, a clause in these terms was inserted into the agreement.”

The Chief Justice said, “I find that financial self-interest was Mr White's principal motivation. ...... At the outset it is necessary to bear in mind that Mr White was entitled to lobby and argue for the financial security that he wanted. Next, it is important to note that the Parliament entrusted the Minister with the power to authorise or not authorise another accrediting body (contractor), not Mr White, and without the co-operation of the Minister, Mr White could not have actually interfered with the free exercise of that discretion. He did not force the Minister to sign the agreement. It was for the Minister to say no to Mr White's proposal, but he chose not to do so.”

This case, in the Desert Rat’s view, goes to the heart of lobbying and shows the sham of this case and the “show trials”. In a democracy anyone has the right to lobby the Government. It is a serious offence to bribe, force or intimidate a Minister or government officer.

The Chief Justice continued, "At the end of any lobbying, a minister remains completely free to exercise his or her duty or authority in whatever manner he or she thinks appropriate."

Burke and Grill only lobbied for clients, not for a government contract for their own business, as was this case. Is there any suggestion that Burke or Grill ever bribed, intimidated or threatened a Minister?

What this case shows is that competent Ministers and members of Parliament are needed. The irony is: the less capable these public officers are, the more need for lobbyists.

Stop wasting our time and taxpayer’s money on the political witch hunt.

The McGinty - Carpenter Nanny State

McGinty Promotes Obesity and Unhealthiness

In a previous post, the Desert Rat has highlighted Health Minister McGinty’s obsession with new legislation. His latest bit of useless social engineering - designed to drown us all, has reached a new standard of legislative stupidity.

From February 2008, State Swim and other some other pool operators in Western Australia must now provide a lifeguard to supervise all lap swimming sessions at the pools. Consequently they have had no choice but to close down the lap swimming facility because of the extra cost. Also expect to see some pools closed and redeveloped if the reduced patronage will make them financially unviable. Thousand of kids currently train and swim at these pools in supervised sessions.

Swimming, and particularly lap swimming is a great way of keeping people fit and out of hospital. The Desert Rat thought Health Minister McGinty might be sensible enough to encourage this activity as a means of reducing obesity. Many pensioners and people with injuries and illnesses (arthritis, diabetes) swim laps to keep fit and healthy. Nurses and other workers, who spend most of the day on their feet, also swim laps to get the circulation going in their legs. A surgeon known to the Desert Rat swims laps at State Swim to ease his neck and back pain – this has allowed him to continue operating for years longer than he would otherwise be able. He has to find another facility if there is one.

Thousands of people swim laps and use pools to keep fit and have fun. Now killjoy McGinty has thought up a way to put an end to this risky and unhealthy activity. Can’t adults doing lap swimming take responsibility for themselves in a shallow pool?

Will McGinty now provide a lifeguard for nurses at Royal Perth Hospital pool during all opening hours so that they are supervised when swimming laps?

Will Aboriginal children be banned from swimming in creeks and waterholes without a lifeguard being employed because someone may drown? Will they have to wear helmets in case they hit their head on the bottom of the pool?

Where does McGinty’s Nanny State end?

The Desert Rat spent most of his misspent youth swimming in the Swan River getting half-drowned unsupervised – running the gauntlet of the occasional paedophile which the police ignored. He walked and later rode a bike to school. He was a fit little bugger. Poor kids were skinny as rats in those days. Now McGinty seems to be encouraging obesity, marijuana smoking and growing and almost any other high health-risk activities.

Small operators have difficulty keeping these businesses financially viable and their doors open. McGinty and Carpenter don’t care about the consequences of this stupid legislation.

McGinty and Carpenter only know how to squander and waste money and opportunities. They know little and care nothing about saving money or creating wealth.

CCC: Silverstone's Evidence to Senate Inquiry

Silverstone’s “Children Overboard” Evidence

In an earlier post “Lies, Mistakes and Character Assassination” (19 Nov 2007), the Desert Rat highlighted the erroneous evidence on the sensitive issue of telecommunications interception matters, that CEO Mike Silverstone gave to the Legislative Council Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC) Committee. That incorrect evidence was followed 10 day later by a letter correcting three significant errors – on matters Silverstone claimed he had read in preparation for the hearing, just before he gave his answers. Silverstone is the CEO of the CCC.

Shortly before he got the plumb job at the CCC, Brigadier Mike Silverstone, as he was then known, was at the centre of the “Children Overboard” scandal, where his evidence is in dispute. The “Children Overboard” cock-up certainly cost the Labor Government victory in 2001 and Kim Beasley the job of Prime Minister of Australia.

On the 6 October 2001, the HMAS Adelaide intercepted a people smuggler’s vessel near Christmas Island, carrying 223 passengers and crew.

The Adelaide sent a navy boarding party to take control of the vessel and set it on a course towards Indonesian waters. The situation onboard the vessel became increasingly tense, and a number of the asylum seekers started sabotaging the vessel.

At daybreak the next day, 14 male passengers jumped or were thrown overboard from the vessel. These man overboards occurred while the navy boarding party was attempting to restore order on the vessel.

At some stage, a man was seen to be holding a girl over the side of vessel, possibly threatening to throw the child into the sea or onto one of the Adelaide's seaboats that was alongside, but eventually brought the child inboard. All 14 males were recovered and returned to the vessel. No child or (children) were retrieved from the water.

The Adelaide recorded the entire episode on its 'video' tracking system.

During the tense tactical situation involving the man overboards, the commanding officer of the Adelaide, Commander Norman Banks, was phoned by his superior Brigadier Mike Silverstone, who was based in Darwin. While talking to his superior, Commander Banks was simultaneously receiving multiple reports from his crew on the Adelaide and the boarding party as the man overboards were occurring.

This conversation was the origin of the erroneous children overboard report. Brigadier Silverstone believed Commander Banks said to him that “a child was thrown over the side”. Commander Banks, on the other hand, maintained that he did not say this, telling the Senate Committee that “no children were thrown overboard from the vessel, no children were put in the water, no children were recovered from the water”.

Brigadier Silverstone described the charged and confused situation that Commander Banks was reporting on as a “kaleidoscope of events”. Most reasonable people would think Silverstone would have asked for written confirmation of such sensational event of a child or children being thrown overboard! An hour, even a day’s delay would not have been a problem.

Within minutes of his conversation with Commander Banks, Brigadier Silverstone telephoned a number of senior officers to update them on the situation with the intercepted vessel. Under a special arrangement to fast-track information to Canberra, he first called Air Vice Marshal Alan Titheridge, Head Strategic Command in Canberra, and told him that some of the passengers had jumped into the sea and children had been thrown overboard. The Senate Committee noted that this special arrangement was not repeated for any other vessel interception incident.

Indeed, Brigadier Silverstone informed the Senate Committee that the requirement to brief Air Vice Marshall Titheridge early on 7 November was the only reason for him ringing Commander Banks at daybreak in the middle of an operation, something that was contrary to his normal practice!

On 10 December 2001, Commander Banks told Brigadier Silverstone and Rear Admiral Smith that no children had been thrown in the water.

On 26 March 2002 on the 7.30 Report, Commander Banks said the whole matter came down to his conversation with Brigadier Silverstone. Commander Banks later said in evidence to the Senate Committee: “If anybody wanted to clarify the veracity of the information perhaps I should have been questioned to provide corroboration of what did or did not happen”.

“What annoyed me was that throughout this whole period, was that nobody else called back to ask for the information.” – not even Brigadier Silverstone!

Banks said, “I spoke to Admiral Smith and Brigadier Silverstone in the period 9, 10, 11 October, the next conversation I had with anybody about this issue was on 8 November with the chief of the Navy.”

When asked by Senator George Brandis about the events on 7 October: “Do you accept that Silverstone's recollection of it is correct?

Commander Banks said “No.”

In some private notes later released, Commander Banks records a conversation he had with the Chief of Navy, Admiral Shackleton, where the Admiral told him not to worry about this controversy.

"He stated clearly we had done a great job, nothing to be ashamed of and this was all about politics and the election."

Who do we believe?

No child was thrown overboard. Commander Banks does not accept Brigadier Silverstone version of the conversation. The alleged child became children. The election polls went the other way.

Who got it badly wrong this time?

Was it all about politics and elections?

Ambulance Ramping: McGinty's Problem Shifting

Ambulances now waiting 3000 hours - McGinty shifts the problem.

Ambulances waited outside the Emergency Departments (ED’s) of major Perth hospitals for nearly 3000 hours this year according to a story in yesterday’s “The West Australian”.

What this story doesn’t tell, is that 2500 of these hours were in the last five months. That suggests to the Desert Rat that St John’s Ambulance will spent at least 5000 hours queued outside hospitals this year if ED problems are not fixed.

On three occasions since September, there has been more than 10 ambulances queued outside an Emergency Department (Stage 3 Ramping). Last year ambulances were ramped for 234 hours!

To solve the problem of overcrowding of ED’s, McGinty decided to keep the patients in the ambulance outside hospitals where they are attended to by paramedics. At one of these understaffed and overcrowded ED’s, nurses were often attending to patients on the footpath outside the ED.

Ambulance ramping shows how incompetently Health Minister Jim McGinty is running our health system. Ambulance ramping is McGinty’s solution to the overcrowding of ED’s at major hospitals.

ED’s are understaffed. They have about 20% less registered nurse than their full complement and they can’t hold staff. That’s about 40 nurses short in a major hospital ED and that places enormous pressure on the remaining staff, who become exhausted and burned out. The ED’s are short of doctors as well.

Because of the delays in treatment many nurses and doctors are abused daily in Ed’s. Waiting patients are often in pain, have no food, no water and no toilet facilities.

Because of the stress of overwork and abuse, one major ED lost over 20% of their staff in one month!

“Nursing sucks! The pay's shit. You continually get abused. There’s no thanks or appreciation.” That’s a comment the Desert Rat heard from a frustrated, recently resigned ED nurse who is now driving a truck in the Pilbara. This is a person who once enjoyed nursing, can handle stress and trauma, who now has no interest in returning to the profession.

McGinty, from the Socialist Left is ideologically opposed to the private health system, but his incompetence is driving many people into the private health system. Is this deliberate, designed to take the pressure off the public health system which is now in disarray? And that is despite massive revenue windfall generated by the mining boom!

How Carpenter set Aboriginal Literacy backwards. (Part 1)

Virtual Nourishment - Carpenter’s Impoverishment of Aboriginal Literacy

“Indigenous Australians will make more advances in education when Aboriginal English is respected in all classrooms” declared Alan Carpenter the” visionary” Education and Indigenous Affairs Minister in 2002.

WA Worst Ever Education Minister Alan Carpenter also launched the mandatory video “Ways of Being, Ways of Talk” and echoed the usual plaudits of “international recognition” and “trialling” by other states of this program. The Desert Rat wonders why the content in teaching was never the focus.

This announcement was Carpenter’s most significant Indigenous Affairs media release in his 3 years on the bow of the ministerial ship. Unfortunately he had no idea where he or the ship were headed, or what he was really promoting. As usual, on this journey to nowhere, no one had their hand on the tiller.

Since 2002 we have seen none of the promised advances, only a chronic deterioration in Aboriginal literacy.

Who in the Department of Education will put their hand up to claim ownership of this disaster?

What was the PROBLEM?

The WA Department of Education and the then new Minister Carpenter had been captured by a group of linguists from Edith Cowan University who promoted a new way of Aboriginal learning that has been an abject failure. The new Aboriginal literacy and learning program was focussed on feel good processes which had no empirical research basis. Phonics and other traditional methods which had proved successful for 200 years and basic curriculum content were nowhere to be seen.

The Desert Rat senses this educational “movement” (it was not a pedagogy), is gradually being moved sideways into the rubbish bin of educational fads – at an almost unnoticeable rate, so no face will be lost by those responsible for the failure.

Teachers in Aboriginal education have been subject to all sorts of feel-good, heart-warming professional development and proselytising about this method. All sorts of strategy distractions such as promoting “Aboriginal English”, “Two-Way Literacy and Learning Project” and “Solid English” have been espoused as the answer to Aboriginal literacy and drawn teachers away from basic program content and teaching skills. These strategies have been an abysmal failure and yet they still have their advocates in the Department. They culminated in Carpenter’s failed and still terminally ill Aboriginal Literacy Strategy which you will hear more about.

Future posts will show how Alan Carpenter’s gullibility some would say stupidity, has irreparably set back the education of most rural and remote Aboriginal children.

A Surreal CCC Scenario?

A $70 million “Offence” propagator?

The Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) presumably sets out to detect serious criminal offences, but the Desert Rat thinks they manufacture more offences than they find. The CCC seems to be creating work for itself; work that will further clog up our overloaded justice system.

Instead of pursuing real corruption, the Crime and Corruption Commission seems to be preoccupied with their pursuit of high profile political figures.

For example, the recent Smith’s Beach inquiry report found no criminal or corrupt behaviour or misconduct by the main parties involved, except for alleged misconduct by a few public servants who were soft targets. The Desert Rat believes those charges are unlikely to have much effect, except to wantonly destroy the careers of those public servants.

The behavioural pattern has developed over two decades in WA. Having wasted good money and effort, the CCC in this case, then looked for any errors or mistakes in the evidence and charges witnesses with giving false evidence - a criminal charge; even where witnesses have endeavoured to truthfully answer questions.

First the ruse of some “misconduct” is used so that the people and premises are electronically "wired" for the interception of phone calls, faxes, emails and private even intimate conversations. The fishing expedition continues with raids on their houses and offices and the seizure all their files and records. They trawl over the seized records for months.

Then public humiliation follows by the public questioning of them in what appear to the public as “show trials”. The questioning is about perfectly lawful matters which should generally be none of their business, in such a way as to make them look corrupt. Exculpatory matter is not aired. They don’t give the “enemies of the State” any forewarning about what the questioning is to be directed at, so that they cannot go through their (often seized) files to prepare for the questioning (public humiliation). Concomitant with this process can be the harassment of associates and family by various mean - all possibly to intimidate and keep the pressure on. The Desert Rat thinks this is a sophisticated form of playground bullying.

The public questioning may relate to any of thousands of emails, letters, phone conversation, meetings and events. If the inquiry does not find any criminal offence or misconduct then they look for something else to justify the enormous waste of taxpayer’s money. If you haven’t resorted to the use the celebrated Carmen Lawrence defence “I don’t recall” and you make an honest mistake, or get it wrong, then you are charged with a criminal offence of lying to the CCC – there is no such thing as a mistake of faulty memory.

The Desert Rat can’t remember what he had for breakfast yesterday but I can hazard a guess - like hell "I don't recall".

Writers such as Albert Camus “The Outsider” and Franz Kafka “The Castle” would have had a wealth of material from these insidious processes.

The Crime and Corruption Commission have now managed to "manufacture" a number of “offences committed“, that did not exist before they started their inquisition – all at the great cost of $70 million and in the "public interest".

Does this behaviour and the rooting out of these"un-West Australian activities" really justify their existence and the cost to the public purse?

Meanwhile back at the fortified motorcycle gang headquarters, it business as usual. The low life that supplied expensive drugs to our football heroes continue their trade and crooked police compromise and isolate honest cops who continue to leave the force in droves.

Judge Sarah Bradley to Head McGinty’s New WA Aboriginal Court?

Judge Sarah Bradley Supports McGinty’s New WA Aboriginal Court?

When the Desert Rat read this week’s sordid account of the pack rape of a 10 year old girl; the trial and “sentence” by enlightened Judge Sarah Bradley, it epitomised all that the Desert Rat thinks is sick with the Socialist Left Aboriginal Justice agenda.

Cactus Kate is a blogger of note who writes for the NZ Dominion Post. She gives Judge Sarah Bradley a touch up in her column and describes her as a “Dead Woman Walking”.

“ ... She's the Judge who refused to jail 9 men and boys who raped a 10 year old girl. She sentenced three men aged 17, 18 and 26 to six months' imprisonment, suspended for 12 months.

"Sentencing indigenous offenders is never easy," she told a conference in Perth earlier this year.

For raping a 10 year old? Oh hell yes it is.

Of course the 10 year old consented:

"Although she was very young, she knew what was going on and she had agreed to meet the children at this particular place and it was all by arrangement.

It gets worse - she's Aborigine, they all do it!

Mr Carter (the DDP Prosecutor) also told the court such incidents were not out of character in small, remote communities.

All the more reason to put a stop to it.

One hopes sanity prevails on appeal and Bradley is given a nice sideways promotion to traffic cases. ...”

Desert Rat has no doubt that the hair-brained Cairns District Court Judge Bradley is an admirer of Attorney General Jim McGinty and his view on the more lenient treatment of Aboriginal offenders.

Like McGinty, Judge Bradley is an admirer of the approach taken in the WA Law Reform Commission Report “Two Separate Systems of Law” – the Report Attorney General Jim McGinty so effusively supported when he released it.

At the Judges conference in Perth earlier this year Judge Bradley referred to the problem of initiatives both legal and legislative that send “mixed messages” about Indigenous justice and sentencing. In this decision, Judge Bradley is sending a clear message about where she stands on this issue. She is firmly in the McGinty and WA Law Reform Commission camp in their approach to Aboriginal sentencing.

She contrasted this to the Howard Government controlled Senate which passed amendments in 2006 when they used their numbers to remove the reference to “cultural background" as a factor which the court must take into account in determining a sentence. Customary law was being successfully used in the Courts to justify serious criminal behaviour. Will the next step of the Socialist Left intelligentsia be to decriminalise paedophilia in Aboriginal Communities?

McGinty has a trial underway to help implement this “progressive” WA Aboriginal Court initiative.

McGinty’s attitude contrasts with the Howard Government approach, which is supported by the likes of Indigenous leader Noel Pearson who opposes special treatment of Aboriginal people in the courts. The Desert Rat agrees with Pearson who said "there is evidence that one of the problems with the criminal justice system today is that it is often too lenient towards Aboriginal offenders, especially when it concerns violence towards other Indigenous people (usually family members)”.

Was Judge Bradley putting up her hand to head the WA Aboriginal Court when speaking in Perth? Her speech would have impressed McGinty as she pushed all the correct Socialist Left buttons.

The Desert Rat hasn’t heard McGinty distance himself from Judge Bradley’s approach. Is this the type of sentencing we will see under our new WA Aboriginal Court system so strongly supported by McGinty?

The Icing on the Cake – A CCC Fairy Tale?

A Crime & Corruption Commission rerun of the 1990’s ?

In the Crime and Corruption Commission's current shenanigans, the Desert Rat can see some parallels with the 1990’s when a tall-poppy politician was charged with stealing $20 000 from his own re-election account. He received $120 000 in donations and spent $140 000 on his campaign. His nett financial contribution was $20 000.

Because the two women signatories to the account were leaving Perth (one to Canberra and one to Bunbury), the re-election account was closed shortly after the election and the remaining $20 000 was transferred to the personal electorate account, where $40 000 of outstanding election accounts were paid. All election funds had to be accounted for tax purposes.

The politician was charged with stealing, after a police fishing expedition had seized all his files and records from his home and held them for 16 months, combing through them searching for some justification for the raid - which occurred while he was at Eucla on an electorate matter. [The raid frightened the daylights out of his daughter and she called another politician to come to the home, who made the busybody cops hand back all the correspondence between the politician and his lawyer that they had seized. They were covered by legal professional privilege but they had grabbed them anyway.]

Well, back to the charge. The Magistrate, although she expressed some doubts over the accused guilt, showed no courage at the committal hearing and in the hysteria at the time said he had a case to answer. The Court of Criminal Appeal reviewed that decision and granted an order nisi on the finding. At the same time, the DPP finally had a proper look at the evidence and decided to withdraw the charge. The cost was over three years of intense scrutiny on many fronts, questioning all donors, accountants, etc. and $500 000 in legal fees the accused had to pay by selling his home. The cost to the State and taxpayer of this keystone cops and the DDP lawyers charade was also obscene.

After the acquittal the police accountants asked his wife why she didn’t tell them that they had spent $20 000 over and above the donations?” She said “I told you that at the start, three years ago and you had all the invoices and receipts, which you had seized". The Desert Rat doubts if they went through the accounts. Maybe because of the presumption of guilt; maybe they did not want him acquitted sooner, which would have reduced the financial loss and damage to his personal reputation?

The DPP when interviewed on TV after the acquittal, announced that the case had been dropped and said "We didn’t have enough evidence to prosecute."! There was not a shred of evidence!

One has to understand the modus operandi of some of these clowns. A conviction doesn’t really matter; the technique is:

• Ruin their public reputation with accusation and charges (where there is smoke there is fire)

• Bankrupt them with legal cost if they want to defend those charges against the unlimited resources of the State.

• If after ruining your reputation and ruining you financially, they get a conviction – then, that just icing on the cake!

That's what happens when there is public hysteria and guilt is assumed. Today’s events with the Crime and Corruption Commission look to the Desert Rat like a re-run of the 1990’s.

How will McGinty’s Bill of Rights stop these politically inspired excesses and abuses of civil liberties?

McGinty’s Senior Health Executive Merry-Go-Round

McGinty: "Work Choices" followed by "Walk Choices".

The Desert Rat became dizzy trying to follow the McGinty’s Public Servant Merry-Go-Round in today’s “The West Australian”.

Prudence Ford who departed (a euphemism for sacked, moved sideways, dumped or something else?) the Health Department, was so competent, the Carpenter (McGinty) Government believes, that she has now a review of the Department of Education. Previously Prudence did a major government review of the National Trust of Australia (WA) and the Department of Community Development - what next? The Desert Rat instinctively suspects that she earns at least as much as she was getting in her former senior executive Health Department position.

Of course, no tales will be told if people are looked after.

One can only imagine what Neil Fong knows about McGinty – is that why he wasn’t unceremoniously sacked after McGinty found out he had treasonous email contact with arch-enemy Burke - God forbid. The misleading answer provided to Parliament was probably more about Fong’s momentary fear of irrational retribution by McGinty, than any embarrassment about having contact with Burke.

The Desert Rat would not blame any public servant in the Health Department for the current mess – not even Neil Fong. The Rat knows McGinty is “hands- on” in all big health decisions – modelled much on that other desert legend Field Marshall Rommel. McGinty however, works in an arid intellectual policy vacuum instead of the desiccated desert of North Africa. Rommel after massive successes eventually had the impediment of superior firepower against him. McGinty has the handicap of infallibility. Have you ever heard him accept responsibility for a failure or seen a hint of humility from this driven man?

Linda Smith the sacked Health Department manager brought in to cover McGinty's South Metro bailiwick was unceremoniously shown the door after fourteen months of a five year contract. Her contract was paid out costing taxpayers $350 000. McGinty’s Department wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars on palatial senior executive offices in Mt Pleasant for Ms Smith that replaced the already lavish facilities at Fremantle. Linda Smith presided over the McGinty sanctioned, financially disastrous closure of Woodside Maternity Hospital and its move to a ward at Kaleeya Hospital.

Linda Smith won’t be telling any tales because of the secrecy clause in the settlement. Other senior executives to "depart" for the scrapheap are Christine O'Farrell, Andrew Chuk, Glyn Palmer, John De Campo Bill Beresford, Michael Jackson, Michael Pervan, John Burns, Peter King, Aaron Groves and Shane Kelly.

Are the Health Department selection panel processes so unbelievably hopeless - so often, or is McGinty impossible to work with? Should we blame these failed appointments on McGinty or on incompetent Health Department's Human Resources personnel?

The Desert Rat wonders if McGinty and his Labor Government has its own form of "Work Choices" but should it be named "Walk Choices"? No unfair dismissals, only golden "Don't Talk" extremely hospitable hospital packages.

Carpenter: My Schools before Fitzroy Crossing School

Carpenter Replaces Willagee and Melville Primary Schools before Fitzroy Crossing the - "worst school in the State". Part 2

Aboriginal students at Fitzroy Crossing District High School would be very envious if they saw what facilities primary school students had in Carpenters pocket handkerchief electorate of Willagee.

Despite years of lobbying for a new school in Fitzroy Crossing which has been described as the "worst in the state" they had to wait until Carpenter's own electorate was looked after. At one stage students had to use buckets of water to flush toilets, after the water tank collapsed.

The 50-year-old school has been extensively damaged by floodwaters and 8 out of 10 students finished school at Fitzroy Crossing functionally illiterate. Some classes have been taught in school corridors because of a lack of space. The school was literally falling down.

Funds from the AlintaGas sale in 2000 were allocated by Colin Barnet the Education Minister at the time, for a significant upgrade which never took place after Carpenter became Minister for Education in 2001. Instead, Melville Primary School in Carpenter's electorate was fast tracked starting in 2002 soon after he became the Minister for Education at a cost of $5.5 million. It was built on a 7.95 ha. site. Standard primary school sites are 4.0 ha.

The old Melville Primary School was in much better condition than the old Fitzroy Crossing School. Carpenter even replaced Willagee Primary School in his electorate at a cost of $5.5 million before considering Fitzroy Crossing. He wonders why he has problems at Fitzroy Crossing. Well Alan, without a decent education, there is no real future for Aboriginal kids. It seem the rich and the poor these days are just the skilled and unskilled. So Aboriginals remain poor.

Alan Carpenter keep telling us about Aboriginal deprivation and inequalitly; but is that predicated by ME FIRST, when it comes to his electorate and his own interests?

Well there is a lot more to hear about the worst Education Minister we have had - at least since WW2.

McGinty's Fiona Stanley Hospital Fiasco

McGinty's Folly: In 2 years, a $642 m cost blowout and further 2 year's delay - more around the corner!

The Desert Rat’s research shows that in just 2 years the cost of Stage 1 of the Fiona Stanley Hospital has blown out from $420 m (591 beds) to $1.1billion (643 beds) - a blowout of 260%. Not only that, the completion date has blown out by 2 years – from 2010 to 2012. The cost blowout has occurred even though major areas of medicine such as obstetrics and gynaecology have been sneakily removed from Stage 1 without any announcement by the publicity shy McGinty.

The Desert Rat is aghast at Health Minister McGinty’s capacity to waste public funds. It’s a pity he didn’t spend it as if it were his own money, then maybe the tax burden on the battler could be eased a tad.

McGinty’s main reason for building the Fiona Stanley Hospital was to gain operating efficiencies and bring down recurrent spending! However, the Desert Rat can only ponder what may have become of McGinty if he ever had a business and had to work for himself.

Well, what’s the bet that the cost will reach $2 billion before McGinty can finally get any of his opposition within the ALP into Corrective Services welfare system and that there won’t be a bum on a bed until 2015!

The Desert Rat will trot out this little table on the Fiona Stanley costs fiasco each time we have a another cost blowout, a further delay or McGinty downgrades the announced hospital services, to save money. Why on earth would the staff at Royal Perth and Fremantle be worried about moving – it ain’t going to happen for a long, long time! They should be bitching about the money being burned on this Ministerial ego trip.

Year	Cost	Beds	Completion Date	Blowout
2009	$2 billion?		2015	$1600 m 4 years?
2007
2006 Dec	$1092 m	643	2012	$672m Delay 2 yrs
2005 Sept	$ 742 m	610	2011	$322m Delay 1 yr.
2005 Feb	$420	591	2010

What McGinty once described as a “world class”, “state of the art” hospital, he now admits he can’t deliver. Instead he said recently on the ABC:

"Would we get the best hospital in Australia? Probably not. That's why we are looking at all these other options (to cut costs). Costs will be contained at $1.1 billion.”

The Fiona Stanley Hospital (Stage 1) was originally announced to provide health services including:

• a 24-hour emergency department capable of dealing with major trauma;
• cardiothoracic services;
• cancer treatments and radiation therapy;
• renal transplantation and dialysis;
• obstetrics and gynaecology; (GONE)
• paediatrics;
• radiology services including CT and MRI scanning; and
• a clinical research centre.

WACOT - A Carpenter Created Cot Case

WACOT - Will "Hercules" McGowan put Carpenter's Hydra out of its misery?

The Desert rat read in today’s “Sunday Times” that Mark McGowan the Minister for Education, is unimpressed with the Western Australian College of Teaching (WACOT) Board.

If you had any doubt about Alan Carpenter being the worst Minister for Education for decades, just examine the WACOT mess. Carpenter was responsible for the legislation and who better to make a mess of it. As usual, what was needed wasn’t what we got. The Desert Rat feels for Dr Susanne Parry who has been afflicted with this impossible job.

It has taken the threat of a shortage of teachers partly caused by WACOT and the threat of PLATO (the group against OBE) candidates being elected to the WACOT Board for McGowan to feign those concerns.

Mark, just front the creator of this expensive useless monstrosity, Alan Carpenter, and tell him you are going to strip it back to a Registration Board. Remember it was political interference that stopped the election of teacher representatives earlier this year because Carpenter thought PLATO would get control of WACOT and not the SSTUWA.

The Desert Rat wonders why we don’t have a simple Teachers’ Registration Board that vets teachers’ qualifications, police record and competency. All existing trained teacher should have just been required to fill out a statutory declaration that they held a recognised qualification for teaching, declare any offenses involving children or adults and attach a sworn resume. There are severe penalties for swearing false statutory declarations.

How many teachers employed under the old system have been refused registration under WACOT? None I expect!

New teachers should be vetted, checking qualifications, competency (if any) and police records. All teachers should be required to advise the Board of any charges pending for sexual abuse or neglect of children. In all cases the onus should be on the teacher to declare.

What have we got? An expensive headless chook that talks about leadership; is politics ridden; has the same failed “eternal” board members (politically connected) who were the authors of all the 1990’s Barnett inspired and his disciple Carpenter dumbing down of the education system.

Outcomes based education, the Curriculum Framework, and the incomprehensible meaningless school report system. They all will go eventually but face has to be saved so it will take years. The WACOT mouthpieces talk incessantly about leadership but how can such a body, burdenened with so much deadwood, ever show any?

We now have 600 teachers who haven’t paid their $70 fee, who are being threatened with deregistration when they already can’t staff schools.

The Desert Rat reregistered in 2002 and was promptly vetted by the small group of two or three officers in the Education Department at no cost and did 3 months relief teaching in remote areas. A fee of $20 was payable for a police clearance.

On wishing to help out last year with the shortage of maths, physics and chemistry teachers as well as literacy teachers, he enquired about a job as a relief teacher in the Kimberley or Pilbara only to be told that he had to reregister through WACOT. Well what a shambles. He had to pay $125 application fee, $25 for another police clearance and $70 to register. It took 3 or 4 months for them to register him and the new school year had started. In the meantime he returned his usual profession on four times the daily salary – and so they missed the opportunity of a sought after science teacher.

Since he registered, the nosey WACOT Board and bureaucrats want to know everything about what he thinks, what he wants, what he might want, what he thinks of them, what they should do. Well the Desert Rat is aware of a letter written to a Carpenter appointed WACOT board Chairman Brian Lindberg about an issue and never got the courtesy of a reply – so why should we bother responding to these eternal professional committee hacks who have little idea about what is needed!

WACOT in its latest bid to find some purpose is now commissioning research into classroom activities using teachers’ registration fees. What will these unelected idiots on the WACOT Board do next with OUR money?

Poor old Ljil Ravlich, well she struggled, but all of her trouble was the legacy of Carpenter’s incompetency when he was Minister for Education. Her crisis has given McGowan some political authority to change the bankrupt Carpenter legacy.

For God’s sake Hercules, hurry up!!