McGinty’s “Wind of Change are Blowing ” comment, sinks Stokes

Attempt to bully journalist rang alarm bells

The incumbent Board of West Australian Newspapers (WAN) should thank Jim McGinty for their re-election. It was McGinty’s stupid comments to a journalist which undermined Stokes bid to have the incumbent Board dumped. The Desert Rat thinks McGinty’s attempt to bully the journalist, badly back fired on the Labor Government and him.

McGinty's reported comment to a journalist from The West Australian a few days before the Board vote was that the Journalist didn’t appreciate that “the winds of change are blowing” for The West Australian - implying the new Stokes controlled Board would pull them into line. This comment ensured the current Board would bolt in the vote. The comment to the journalist as reported in The West Australian, has not been denied by McGinty to the Desert Rat’s knowledge.

Kerry Stokes had already weakened his prospect of a successful takeover of West Australian Newspapers by making two tactical errors. Firstly, Stokes informed Premier Alan Carpenter about the bid - “out of courtesy” he said - but appeared to be currying favour. Secondly, he appeared to be attacking the editor, by criticising the editorial policy.

This set off alarm bells among many WAN shareholders and others interested in editorial independence. Stokes knew of the spat between The West Australian and the Labor Government and the contempt both Carpenter and McGinty had for the West’s editor Paul Armstrong who was not compliant enough for their liking.

Kerry Stokes must have thought Carpenter had some influence with WAN shareholder. The Desert Rat can only conclude that Stokes wasn’t advised by new recruit John Langoulant, who would have understood the politics.

The view tentatively in the public mind was that Stokes would change the editorial policy and they would be more supportive (i.e., there would be less scrutiny) of the Carpenter Government.

In the Desert Rat’s view, there was some hostility to Kerry Stokes pitch, but probably not enough for it to fail. Stokes is greatly admired in Western Australia and is “one of us”; a West Australian who has made good from a very difficult start in life. There was some view put forward that Stokes was getting control of "The West." without paying a control premium, but the Desert Rat doesn’t think that was a significant issue.

One certainty in the Desert Rat’s view is that McGinty’s bullying comment to the journalist, torpedoed Stokes campaign.

McGinty’s bad habits are now doing him and the Labor Government’s interests, a lot of damage.

You can be sure Kerry Stokes won’t involve Carpenter and McGinty in his next tilt at West Australian Newspapers.

McGinty's Obstetrics Mess Pt 2

The Court's Jester - now Health's Jester

The Desert Rat is aware that Jim McGinty was warned when he closed Woodside Maternity Hospital that the birth rate was increasing significantly. Woodside Hospital was the the public maternity hospital for women in the Fremantle and surrounding suburbs.

McGinty and Fong believed the figure given to them by their NSW consultants which have now been shown to grossly underestimate the increase in birth rate.

The West Australian recently reported McGinty conceding the birth rate had "unexpectedly " increased by 20%. The fool was warned, but was too arrogant to listen.

McGinty closed the 40 bed Woodside Maternity Hospital in East Fremantle (23 beds were funded) and tried to cram the women into a 10 bed ward at Kaleeya Hospital nearby. McGinty increased the beds to 13 after the stupidity was pointed out. Thirteen was chosen because that was the average number of beds needed, at the birth rate in 2005 at Woodside Hospital.

What the self-appointed Emperor of WA didn't understand is that maternity cases vary widely each day. Sometimes days only 4 or 5 beds were required at Woodside and two days later 24 beds can be required! It can be a feast or a famine.

What now happens at Kaleeya Hospital, and was predicted (and denied by McGinty) is that the women overflow in to surgical ward where all sorts of dangerous bugs exist. Some babies and mothers have contracted infections in the surgical ward, but this has been suppressed or hushed up - because it was predicted. Women get very upset being moved in and out of the surgical ward while the staff juggle beds.

The move to Kaleeya was to be for 5 years. The Kaleeya ward was converted to maternity for $2 million and savings were claimed. When asked in Parliament if he had factored in the cost of $800 000 to reconvert the birthing suite and other facilities back to a normal ward after 5 years, McGinty replied he had never heard such a stupid question. Really? If Kaleeya Hospital was run by Ramsey Health Care or any other private operator, they would have to do the calculation!

McGinty said the move to Kaleeya was temporary and the maternity ward would close in five years, moving to the the Obstetrics and Gynaecology facility planned to open as part of Stage 1 of Fiona Stanley Hospital in 2010. That facility was sneakily deferred to Stage 2 and the Fiona Stanley facility now won't open until 2018 at the earliest! Ten years late. A chronic shortage of beds and a broken commitment to the women of the southern suburbs.

The Reid Report rather stupidly recommended any maternity facility with less than 1000 births a years should close as they were too small!! Woodside had 850 births a year. Women like smaller facilities for childbirth. McGinty used that recommendation to close Woodside but moved them into a smaller facility! The move was designed to help fill the over-priced lemon that McGinty bought before the 2004 election on the pretext of getting rid of the elective surgery backlist. It was half empty and an embarrassment to McGinty, and so Woodside was sacrificed to conceal the failure of Kaleeya (with 5 operating theatres) to perform. McGinty closed the Woodside Hospital which could have been expanded to 40 beds and shoe-horned it into a smaller cramped facility, against the Reid recommendation - a 13 bed ward at Kaleeya.

Now McGinty has announced he will keep Osborne Park Hospital's maternity facility open - after announcing its closure. Has this clown lost the plans or does he make it up as he goes?

If you thought Jim Minister McGinty had much of an idea about how to run the health system, you should be seriously wondering by now. He has been able to look good because he has appropriated most of the State budget for his own ministries which have been awash with funds. This would normally be good but he has wasted probably half the health budget.

Fiona Stanley Hospital was to be built for $451 million in 2005, when announced by Jester McGinty. By late 2007 the cost was $1760 million - a 400% blowout in cost in three years, increasing by $2 million a day!

Not a shovel of dirt has been turned and Fiona Stanley Hospital was originally due to be opened in two years (2010). Worthy of a bit of doggerel the Desert Rat thinks!

Spreading the Wasting Infection

Architects and Consultants of the Utmost Fame
Were called to Fiona Stanley; but when they came
They genuflected to McGinty, as they took their Fees,
'There is no Cure for your Disease.'

Is it no wonder the Desert Rat now has little respect for this incompetent political despot.

McGinty: In total control of the ALP - and out of control?

Who will stand up and be counted?

The Desert Rat was surprised at the level of control that Jim McGinty and his Socialist Left faction now has over the Labor Party.

The control was reflected by the State Executive 126 to 23 vote for Reece Whitby, the landlord and property speculator who is being parachuted into the Labor Party and the seat of Mt Lawley by McGinty.

It is highly unlikely that Alan Carpenter made this choice or his "Poodle " Mark McGowan who tried to claim some credit, in one news story. This control of the numbers underlines McGinty's ultimate control of the Labor Caucus and the Labor Government and Western Australia.

The vanquished are the Centre and New Right factions who could only muster 23 votes. McGinty crushed and humiliated Ministers Michelle Roberts, John Kobelke and Margaret Quirk in the vote. That was the nett effect of these now stranded MP's who stupidly abandoned Brian Burke and have tried to politically cohabit with and outwit McGinty.

To make matters worse Jim McGinty got rid of Prisons and Correction from the Attorney General's Justice Ministry because he was getting too much bad publicity and had no ideas for reforming the corrections system.

He jettisoned these troublesome areas to Margaret Quirk and she has subsequently been starved of funds, making it doubly difficult for her to adequately fund the demands of dealing with the results of McGinty's chaotic court system.

Michelle Roberts has also been starved of funds by Carpenter and McGinty for her Aboriginal affairs portfolio. She will never look good trying to make ends meet while McGinty appropriate most of the funding for his own Ministeries.

The Desert Rat thinks that John Kobelke is a factional poodle and will never show any strength or independence and will try to join with whoever has numbers. Can he prove this assessment by the Desert Rat wrong?

These politicians have been unmercifully crushed and will see out their days with their tails between their legs - like camp dogs.

There is little prospect of these humiliated politicians publicly seeking help from Burke - at least not until he has seen off the attacks by McGinty's wretched Secret Police at the Corruption and Crime Commission.

McGinty Health Revolution

Spreading the Infection

After seven years, soaring rates of chlamydia, syphilis and gonorrhoea underline the disastrous failure of Jim McGinty's in the area of Aboriginal Health.

The Socialist Left ideology proselytised by Jim McGinty and fellow travellers has driven Aboriginal policy since the early 1970’s and many are now coming to realise that those well intentioned policies have been catastrophic for Aboriginal people.

Socialist Left Ministers have mostly controlled the social welfare ministries such as health, welfare and education in Labor Governments.

We have seen chronic failure but the political spin would suggest all is well.

In Jim McGinty's maiden speech to State Parliament on 31 May 1990 he declared:

"..... a number of groups ..... deserve the prime attention of this Parliament. I refer first to Aboriginals. .......

Numerous statistics exist and each of them indicates that this Government has not achieved in any sense equality for Aboriginal people. All the indicators point to an alienated, dispossessed and oppressed people. I will endeavour, in my term in this Parliament, to provide positive measures to support self determination by Aboriginal people, economic and social self reliance and generally to enhance the welfare of the Aboriginal people of this country."

Jim McGinty’s failure in Aboriginal affairs is reflected after seven years as the de facto head of the Labor Government in Western Australia and control of the health and justice system. The results have been declining health, increased incarceration, poor education standards among Aboriginal adults and an explosion in truancy by Aboriginal students.

It was not surprising to read Commonwealth disease surveillance figures that McGinty would never release in an understandable form. They show that in Western Australia there has been a massive 20% increase in chlamydia, and also soaring rates of syphilis and gonorrhoea. While the figure are design to confuse the notification rates by local government area show the problem has exploded in areas of high Aboriginal population.

Can we soon expect a “good news” media release from Health Minister Jim McGinty telling us how much progress is being made with the announcement of new initiatives – if the figures look like getting into to public area in an intelligible form!

Jim McGinty seems to thinks more new hospitals and more legislation in health and justice will fix the problem.

McGintiy's Ministerial Department and agencies are racked with an epidemic of fear and managerial incompetence. Will we soon have terminal ennui?

Part 2 The Media Release of 9 October and the Smith’s Beach Report.

CCC Spin exposes lack of integrity

The Desert Rat has always thought the media statement released by the Corrruption and Crime Commission (CCC) at the time of the tabling of the Smith’s Beach report on 9 November 2007 was defamatory of Burke and Grill.

Having read the CCC's Smith’s Beach Report and been unimpressed by the gloating, quoted comments in the media release by the CCC’s CEO Mike “Children Overboard” Silverstone, the Desert Rat mistakenly thought that there must have been another volume of the report.

The Smith's Beach Report and the press release do not properly relate to each other!

“What’s wrong with these CCC clowns?” the Desert Rat asked. Did the staff get their law degrees and other degrees from out of Weeties packets?

The media release was written with little reference to the report and was designed to inflict maximum damage to the reputations of Brian Burke and Julian Grill.

Take for instance the statement in the media release:

“Also, in the Commission’s view lobbyists (former Premier, Mr
Brian Burke and his partner, former Minister, Mr Julian Grill) acting as agents for Canal Rocks Pty Ltd and its representative, Mr David McKenzie, influenced or attempted to influence public officers to engage in misconduct.”

There is no such statement or finding in the Smith’s Beach Report! Additionally there is no evidence in the Smith’s Beach Report at all to support this assertion in respect of Julian Grill and Brian Burke.

This clumsy, false and defamatory comment in the media release is more about politics than Justice and reflects on the calibre of people employed at the CCC. The media release was a political attack on Burke and Grill and was designed to inflict as much damage as possible to their reputations.

If this is the standard of investigating and reporting that Jim McGinty tolerates in his government departments and agencies he cannot expect any respect as a Minister.

To compound the inadequacy he says the CCC is doing a wonderful job, despite the well documented litany of incompetence by the Corruption and Crime Commission.

Part 1. The Rewriting of Judge Hammond’s Report by the CCC Staff after Hammond resigned from the CCC

Playing Games at the CCC

Why Commissioner Judge Kevin Hammond left the Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC) was explored in an earlier post. The Desert Rat still thinks it was because of conflict between him and the CCC staff and the Desert Rat now develops that argument further.

Judge Hammond resigned from the CCC in March 2007 two years before his term expired and strangely after he had heard all the evidence into Smith’s Beach and the Grill Burke business dealings and had written the draft report on Smith’s Beach. The report was left to Neil McKerracher QC to complete.

The Desert Rat believes the conflict must have revolved around the Smith’s Beach Report. Internal people in the CCC wanted harder findings, that Commissioner Judge Kevin Hammond was not prepared to agree to.

Judge Hammond wrote his draft report thus satisfying his own view of what the finding should properly be and Neil McKerracher the Acting Commissioner was then to negotiate the final touches to accommodate any minor changes of emphasis with the CCC staff.

One month later, in April 2007, Acting Commissioner McKerracher advised Burke and Grill through their solicitors that there were no adverse findings or comment against them.

The final Smith’s Beach Report was released and tabled in Parliament in October 2007 – some six months later. Why such a long delay when the Report had been completed in April by Commissioner Judge Kevin Hammond and Acting Commissioner McKerracher?

What appears to have happened is that the staff at the CCC rewrote the Smith’s Beach Report in that intervening six months bringing in an adverse comment concerning Burke and Grill which were not in the Report done by Commissioner Hammond and Acting Commissioner McKerracher!

The Desert Rat should point out here that this is similar to the disclosed activities of re-writing Judge Hammond’s report by the CCC staff in the D’Orazio matter, which was very adversely criticised by Parliamentary Inspector Malcolm McCusker QC.

The staff of the CCC got their way on Smith’s Beach and thereby got the CCC themselves into deep and very hot water. This has been the source of the CCC troubles and, will be further developed in this series of articles.

In June, Len Roberts-Smith was appointed as Commissioner and must have become aware of or was involved in the rewriting of the Smith’s Beach Report. New Commissioner Roberts-Smith had not heard any of the evidence, had not seen the body language and intonation of the witnesses to make any judgment as to truthfulness.

Either Len Roberts-Smith was a willing participant in the rewrite of the Smith’s Beach Report or was not aware of the contents of the report written by Judge Hammond and completed by Acting Commissioner McKerrarcher. Either way he became embroiled in the problems created by the rewrite of the Smith’s Beach Report and its flawed, unsound and what now appear to be - indefensible findings.

The re-written Smith’s Beach Report with its broad new range of adverse findings, was tabled in Parliament on the 9 October 2007. The findings were without any basis and were findings that Commissioner Judge Kevin Hammond and Acting Commissioner McKerracher did not entertain!

Since then the credibility of the Smith’s Beach Report has unwound week after week. Only one small part of its finding is yet to be discredited and that is its findings against three Busselton Shire Councillors, which the Desert Rat will show are legally flawed.

Both Blind Freddy and the Desert Rat have now examined this finding and found it to be fatally flawed. It is unbelievable how incompetent the CCC have been on this issue as well. More will be revealed in the third post in this series.

CCC: Three examples of Gross Incompetence

Three articles revealing gross incompetence and intrigue within the CCC.

It is difficult for the Desert Rat to comprehend the sustained gross incompetence of the Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC) and why Attorney General Jim McGinty as the Minister responsible is paralysed when it comes to realising it - and fixing the problem.

In three following posts even the most hardened supporters of Jim McGinty will begin to realise how he has really “lost the plot” in his oversight of the CCC.

The first post will explore what happened to the Smith’s Beach Report after Commissioner Judge Kevin Hammond resigned as head of the Corruption and Crime Commission.

The second post will explore the media release on the Smith’s Beach Report and findings put out on 9 October 2007 by the CEO of the CCC, Mike “Children Overboard” Silverstone. The media release reveals the incompetence of the CCC in that it states findings that are not in the Smith’s Beach Report.

The third post will explore the CCC bizarre legally flawed findings against three Busselton Shire Councillors, which was until now, the only part of the CCC’s Smith’s Beach Report that has not been discredited.

Watch this space in the coming days for a few embarrrassing insights into the CCC.

Carpenter's Cant - Truth a Casuality in Spin

Carpenter's Cheap Shot at Grill & Burke

In his nonsensical comment about there being no urgency to reform contempt of parliament laws, Alan Carpenter made a glib and cheap comment that “Mr Burke and Mr Grill are authors of their own demise” (The West Australian 31 March 2008).

Some more perceptive observers may think it rather too early for Carpenter to gloat over Grill and Burke’s “demise”. The Smith’s Beach Report, redolent of something you would expect from the politbureau of an unaccountable regime, has completely unwound. More is to come in later blogs.

Two factors have contributed most to the current mess the Carpenter Government now faces with its Burke and Grill vendetta.

First was the inept anti-business Labor government was the catalyst for the explosion in demand for lobbyist after 2001 election.

Second is the incompetence of the Corruption and Crime Commission, which has little understanding of political process, who are the creators of the Government’s present problems.

Politicians are there to be lobbied by all and sundry – individuals, companies, industry and community groups - that is an important part of their job/role.

Politicians and public servants to a lesser extent are solely responsible for their decisions – not the lobbyists.

The only limitation on a lobbyist or anyone making a representation to government is that they must not bribe, threaten, force or coerce a minister, member of parliament or public servant.

A recent Tasmanian Supreme Court decision on a political lobbying case highlighted this fact.

The Desert Rat has issued a simple challenge to Jim McGinty that could abort the witch hunt - if no answers are forthcoming.

The three questions for Jim McGinty are:

1. What lobbying, in which Burke and Grill were involved, was against the public interest and why was it against the public interest?
2. What criminal or corrupt conduct were Burke and Grill involved in?
3. Is there any evidence or suggestion that Burke or Grill bribed, forced, intimidated or coerced anyone in their lobbying activities?

If McGinty or Carpenter could provide answers to these three questions, they could have saved the taxpayers the $90 million largely wasted by the Corruption and Crime Commission, most spent in pursuit of getting Burke and Grill “at any cost”.

One other certainty in this world other than death and taxes is that McGinty will never apologise for the behaviour of his beloved poodle the CCC.

Corruption in WA Politics

Is corruption a real issue in WA politics?

The Desert Rat takes a casual interest in Labor politics in other states and it seem to him that the Tasmanian and NSW Labor Party politics are two states where serious levels of corruption are endemic. More on that in later posts.

Western Australia is a rather timid place when it comes to accommodating corruption. In 35 years of what may be called insider politics, the Desert Rat has not personally seen any corruption except inside the WA police force where it was part of the cover-up of misdeeds culture of the hierarchy. That process saw small time offenders resign from the force with the threat of prosecutions or where the big fish were protected because they had the "dirt" on most of the hierarchy. The hierarchy wouldn’t risk the scandal.

The fact that we don't have poker machines in Western Australia says a lot about criminal influence in Western Australia, and, there isn't a snowflakes hope in hell of getting them into WA. Our Lotteries Commission is still publicly owned so that the public get the benefits of that form of gambling. Despite the efforts of Packer and others the moneyed interests have not been allowed a free-for-all at the Casino.

The Desert Rat thinks that these sorts of attitudes reflect the lack of criminal corruption, as they would be some of the first destructive indicators that showed the influence of moneyed interests and organised crime on politicians. Corruption in WA politics is negligible.

Western Australia has had its share of entrepreneurial egomaniacs from time to time, that have had the ear of government, but the Desert Rat does not know any Minister or member of parliament that has ever taken a personal bribe. Politics is all about networking and friendships. Those in the loop and those in control of the infamous "numbers" generally call the shots. Influence can be wielded by big wheels or small wheels. It is the connections or networks that matter. A particular activist or conservationist can have more influence than the CEO of BHP Billiton or a property developer.

When the Gallop Government (alias the McGinty regime) set up their political caste system after 2001, they eschewed contact with the important business sector in Western Australia. Such was their antipathy to commerce and business that the result was the explosion of lobbyists, as business needed to get back in the loop to be heard and get decisions. Business and commerce under McGinty’s Socialist Labor regime were the "untouchables". They were unclean.

The growth of lobbyists did not necessarily mean corruption took place. The Desert Rat is of the view that there is little if any corruption in Western Australia.

The sad part about the Corruption and Crime Commission is that they don't understand how politics functions practically. Under Jim McGinty’s stewardship of that incompetent and lugubrious monolith, the CCC has given the opposite impression. Like Don Quixote, the CCC has been "tilting at windmills." Making representations to Government is not corruption; it is a normal part of the political process.

Despite spending or wasting nearly $90 million on the CCC we have not discovered any bribes, any coercion, any threats, or any criminal conduct by politicians or ex-politicians. What we have seen, heard and read, is a CCC political sideshow which has been exposed by Malcolm McCusker QC as grossly incompetent.

This sideshow has served Jim McGinty's interests well to date. Not one Socialist Left Faction Minister or Left Faction ex Minister or Left faction lobbyist has been investigated by the CCC – let alone humiliated.

All Jim McGinty's main opponents in the ALP have been scrutinised and humiliated.

This state of affairs has been presided over by that parody of an Attorney General Jim McGinty who still claims the CCC is doing a good job. Well, yes, if you think recklessly destroying people lives and reputations and businesses is a good.

The media now understands the dynamics of this evil process we have seen spawned in Western Australia and it is beginning to gradually sink into the public’s mind.

The real "corruption" as the Desert Rat sees it is when Alan Carpenter suddenly announces that he thinks Malcolm McCusker QC should be allowed to scrutinise the CCC evidence in his reports. Carpenter got off the fence and supported McCusker, albeit very briefly.

Why the sudden change of heart?

ALP polling showed 85% of the public surveyed believed and supported Malcolm McCusker and not the CCC.

There is no conviction in this manipulative type of superficial politics. It exists in a moral vacuum.

McGinty's Emergency Department Mess

Running Amok in Emergency

Self-appointed Emperor Jim McGinty reminds the Desert Rat of the scene from the Wizard of Oz when the great curtains in the Emerald City are finally pulled back.

Dorothy and her friends find ..... nothing. Just a small, anxious figure who had until then been able to project a big, confident illusion.

Like many, this powerful figure once had the Desert Rat's respect. He had the power to make things happen; to do good things. As he took control of the ALP a different picture gradually emerged - the political titan, and skilled strategist became a ruthless and surprisingly incompetent minister. A person who was not a leader, but one of the Stalinist Left who controls using the weapon of fear - a person whose larger than life impression has shrunken and wasted over the last three years.

Was it the cancer of power and insecurity?

Wallowing in a tsnami of mining generated taxes and revenue which allowed expensive announcements, helped disguise the many failures of McGinty's dysfunctional oversight of the Health Department.

Those failure are now on display everywhere. Today's The West Australian carries a report that Emergency Department (ED) doctors at our public hospitals are considering industrial action.

Not surprising to the Desert Rat, staff are leaving the public health system because they are not appreciated. Their motivation to do the extra work needed has been exhausted and destroyed. They don't feel appreciated.

Jim McGinty has consistently and cynically left the Emergency Departments understaffed, as shown by this table compiled from recent answers to questions in State Parliament

Hospital	Budgeted FTE's	Actual FTE's	FTE's Resigned
Royal Perth	122	94	22
Sir Charles Gairdner	114	98	15
Fremantle	103	92	16

They are understaffed by about 25%. No wonder they can't cope and resignations churn the system requiring existing staff to train and train new staff; time that could be better spent doing their job.

SCGH is understaffed by 16 registered nurses; RPH is understaffed by 28 registered nurses and Fremantle by 11 registered nurses. They are all budgeted positions. Little wonder the resignations levels are so high.

Staff that front each day are under enormous pressure. They are assaulted, insulted and unappreciated by the impersonal style of management that Jim McGinty has fostered in the Health Department.

No amount of new legislation or new hospitals in the Kimberley or elsewhere will fix the people management problem in the Health Department. Jenny Pickworth described the fear and intimidation felt by senior management in the Health Department.

McGinty's costly penchant for centralising everything in health has taken management further away from the staff. When you fail to motivate and appreciate staff they soon lose interest. Many hospitals cannot get staff to do after-hours call work in emergencies.

Some obstetrics hospitals are operating dangerously - without staff available for emergency call-outs. No wonder midwives burn-out and retire early.

McGinty's answer to stop the resignations and ease the workload on ED's was to ramp ambulances which was highlighted in this earlier post. Up to a dozen ambulance can be ramped at ED's. All of these ED's are grossly understaffed and well below their budgeted staff numbers.

It is a pity some of the $90 million McGinty has wasted on the Corruption and Crime Commission has not found its way in filling the budgeted vacancies and properly remunerating Emergency Department staff.

The Chaos Theory may work well in physics but McGinty hasn't worked out that it has little application to Health.

Let a thousand flowers bloom

Fear and Intimidation in the ALP

Chairman Mao Zedong was attributed with this slogan as part of a critique and renewal process of the Chinese Communist Party in 1957. The intelligentsia that responded to the invitation to criticise the Communist Party were flushed out and subsequently executed.

The Desert Rat has heard many reports that most ALP members of State Parliament are an unhappy lot.

They are terrified and fearful of losing their upcoming pre-selections.

They are intimidated and scared to speak up in case offense is taken by those in the Socialist Left and their cronies who control the ALP. One false move and their pre-selection death warrant will be signed. It is the same type of fear and intimidation that lawyer Jenny Pickwork said permeates the Health Department.

The Desert Rat imagines they will soon be invited to speak up in the Caucus and put forward their ideas to renew and invigorate the tired and failing McGinty controlled Socialist Left regime. The State ALP members of parliament can't do much about it while the Socialist Left supremo has complete hegemony.

Don't expect any ideas or initiative to come forth from those silent lambs on the Hill (State Parliament). Any dissidents will be flush out and politically executed if they are critical of the regime.

Such is life in ALP politics these days - courage is scarce. As Shakespeare wrote in Julius Caesar:

"Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once."

McGinty Agenda entrenches ALP control

The Puppet and the Puppeteer

The Desert Rat thinks it is now becoming clear that Alan Carpenter’s dream team of ALP candidates for the State election, is in fact, the choice of McGinty, the real power behind the "figurehead leader".

For a while the Desert Rat thought Carpenter was taking on Jim McGinty; naively trying to assert his own "authority". This would have resulted in the demise of Carpenter as McGinty would have the numbers on the State Executive to butcher any Carpenter’s agenda and destroy him in the process.

McGinty has now come out in support of Reece Whitby, a landlord, housing speculator and part-time Kerry Stokes employee at Channel 7. Tellingly, this open support from Jim McGinty came after New Right faction leader Michelle Roberts had the temerity to publicly support the right of John D’Orazio to contest ALP preselection for Morley.

McGinty wants the New Right faction’s John D’Orazio shut out of the ALP and ALP pre-selection.

McGinty has now declared he fully supports Reece Whitby as the next Labor candidate for Morley. The likes of Reece Whitby, and Alan Carpenter, will be at the mercy of McGinty because they will never have any personal power base within the ALP.

This all adds credence to Alan Carpenter being the puppet who is just publicaly running McGinty’s preselection agenda. Left faction candidates and Left captured candidates such as housing speculators like Reece Whitby will get the safe seats at the expense of the Centre and Right factions candidates, now that their power base has been undermined by the incompetent and nefarious activities of the Corruption and Crime Commission.

Whitby and Carpenter will never have any power base in the ALP because they have been parachuted in, and so will be beholden to McGinty the Socialist Left.

Pickworth Attacks McGinty

Health Minister McGinty gets some of his own medicine.

The West Australian reports that Jenny Pickworth the Health Department legal consultant who claimed Jim McGinty misled Parliament when he said he terminated her contract, has accused Jim McGinty of "presiding over a culture of intimidation and fear" as well as "misleading Parliament for silly political mileage".

Jim McGinty's stupid remarks had severely damaged Ms Pickworth's reputation, according to Kim Hames the Shadow Health Minister.

After the claimed "termination", Ms Pickworth was offered the job of Director of Legal Services of the Health Department, making a further mockery of McGinty's chest-beating claim!

The article states that Pickworth said "she did not believe he treated his staff well". She said Health under Jim McGinty had become a group of frightened people.

Sound very much like the Parliamentary Labor Party to the Desert Rat.

Ms Pickworth said "If you use his treatment of me as an example it sends a message to the rest of the workforce that you don't stand up to Jim".

The Desert Rat thinks that message won't be lost on Jim McGinty - and it won't be news to him.

McGinty Misleads the House

McGinty's sham claim exposed - no apology to Jenny Pickworth

The Desert Rat was pleased to see Kim Hames the Shadow Health Minister nail Jim McGinty last week over McGinty's statement in Parliament, that two lucrative contracts awarded by Dr Neil Fong "had been terminated".

McGinty made the claim in a speech in Parliament where he said the "Fong era was over" - a cold act of disloyalty to distance himself from Fong's management of McGinty's dysfunctional Ministry.

One of the two contracts McGinty claimed were terminated was for legal adviser Jenny Pickworth. Jenny Pickworth had in fact resigned from her role on the 14th of February when she advised the Health Department that she was no longer available to do the work.

McGinty had not terminated her contract.

The claim, which the Desert Rat thinks was designed to make McGinty look decisive and tough, came back to bite him on the nether region. McGinty refused to apologise for to Ms Pickworth, whose reputation was damaged by the false claim. When has McGinty ever apologised or accepted responsibility for his own incompetent decisions?

Kim Hames told Parliament that it was another example of McGinty's "smoke, mirrors and spin".

The motion moved in the House by Hames accussed McGinty of "misguided priorities", in focussing on "personal vendettas" and "political spin".

Right-on Kim Hames!

McGinty's Backdown on Corruption Comment

Calling the Bully's Bluff

Jim McGinty has denied referring to Brian Burke and Julian Grill in "corruption" comments he made on ABC Radio.

While McGinty's explanation fell short of an apology, the letter from McGinty to Burke and Grill's lawyers as reported in The West Australian, was a clear back down from any inference that Burke and Grill were corrupt or had been involved in any criminal matters. The letter arrived on the deadline for action to be taken in the Supreme Court.

This backdown was a big win by Brian Burke and Julian Grill as most of what Jim McGinty says about the lobbyists is designed to smear their reputations. McGInty seems to include the word "corruption" whenever he makes comment on any matter where Burke or Grill's name is involved.

It called staying on message and establishes a negative connection in the subconscious mind of listeners and readers. Goebells perfected this indoctrination technique.

The public now knows that Jim McGinty has no evidence that Brian Burke or Julian Grill are corrupt.