Lobbyist Crighton-Browne gets right of reply

Labor MP's caught pissing on the law of defamation?

Parliamentary privilege is a legal mechanism that allows members of parliament to speak freely without fear of legal action. Unfortunately there are many examples of gratuitous abuse of this right by MP's who make unsubstantiated allegations without any real foundation.

An article in The West Australian of Friday 20 June, indicates former senator and lobbyist Noel Crighton-Browne's application to have a right of reply to unfair and untrue allegations made against him by Labor MP's Alan Carpenter, Eric Ripper and Mark McGowan has been accepted by the House Privilege's Committee.

Mr Crighton-Browne wrote to the committee about his disgust, claiming the three mens' comments - made under parliamentary privilege - had the effect of "traducing, slandering and defiling" his reputation.

The Committee must have thought the comments of the Labor politicians were without foundation and so have given Crighton-Browne an opportunity to put his case into the Hansard record.

The Desert Rat has read a number of gratuitous and gutless "cowards castle" comments by MP's made under absolute privilege against Julian Grill and Brian Burke, from MP's on both sides of the House during the feeding frenzy that followed the Smith Beach hearing and inquiry. These allegations also need to be corrected to set the record straight.

The Desert Rat wonders if the Privileges Committee will upset some powerful people and allow Julian Grill and Brian Burke an opportunity to respond to untrue allegations made against them in both Houses of Parliament.

Hegemony is no Joking Matter

The best jokes do not just make us laugh.

The Centre and Right groups within the ALP were decimated by Jim McGinty's Socialist Left Faction and the CCC secret police during 2007 and 2008. Hatred, bitterness, lawlessness and retribution reigned within the ALP.

A Left Faction apparatchik was ringing a faction member and asked for a donation: terrorists associated with Brian Burke's former Right group have kidnapped Jim McGinty, and have vowed to soak him in petrol and set him alight if the ransom is not paid.

“How much are other people giving?” the member asks.

“On average about two or three litres.”

Grill's Treatment: Rough Justice or Corrupt Behaviour

The Silence of the ALP Lambs - Stalinist Rule Changes Set for Nod

The State ALP looks more like Erich Honecker's failed East German Communist Government with its Stasi secret police investigating and purging internal opponents and now the attempt by the hierarchy at this week State Conference to change the rules to give themselves powers to summarily expel ALP members - with no right to put their case and no right of appeal!

It is one years since Julian Grill was expelled from the ALP - for what yesterday's ABC news Bulletin incorrectly described as his donation of $5000 to the National Party of WA.

Under Labor Party rules, any member who campaigns against their own party is automatically struck off the membership list. Showing his support for the purge, Premier Alan Carpenter said he was delighted that the lobbyist Julian Grill has been expelled from the Labor Party.

Grill did forward the donation, but it was made on behalf of a client for whom he was a lobbyist. It certainly wasn't Grill's money and it is doubtful that he recommended such a donation.

Grill was summarily expelled by the ALP, ignoring the clear and comprehensive rules of the ALP. They did not provide Grill with any opportunity to put his case. because that is what the hierarchy wanted.

What is intriguing if you look at the register of donations, Julian Grill is shown as donating $5000 on behalf of Griffin Group and further down the same page Gary Gray MHR the new Member for Brand and Parliamentary Secretary in the Rudd Government, is shown as having donated $5000 on behalf of Woodside to the National Party. Gray of course was a lobbyist working for Woodside at the time (a year ago) - but the ALP conveniently ignored this.

Well any normal person would be embarrassed by these double standards, the failure to extend natural justice to its members and apply the rules fairly - but not Jim McGinty or Alan Carpenter who both want Julian Grill out of the ALP.

This weekends Special State Conference will formalise the Stalinist rule changes.

As Honecker said: "Den Sozialismus in seinem Lauf, halten weder Ochs noch Esel auf".

The Stalinist Left is alive and thriving in the WA Branch of the ALP!

McGinty dumbstruck as Brabazon cleared of CCC Smiths Beach findings

What was the real agenda behind the Smiths Beach fiasco?

"Macavity's a Mystery Cat: he's called the Hidden Paw -
For he's the master criminal who can defy the Law.
He's the bafflement of Scotland Yard, the Flying Squad's despair:
For when they reach the scene of crime - Macavity's not there! "
T. S. Eliot

The Desert Rat just read an article in The West Australian (Friday 20 June) by Robert Taylor revealing that Mr Mark Brabazon, a CALM employee and the only remaining public servant named adversely by the Corruption and Crime Commission in the Smiths Beach Inquiry, has been cleared of any wrongdoing by a Public Service disciplinary inquiry called for by the CCC itself.

The allegations of the CCC have now been almost comprehensively rejected by competent authorities like the Office of Public Sector Management and Parliamentary Inspector of the CCC, Malcolm McCusker. The CCC inquiry has all the hallmarks of the Frewer and Allen inquiries where additional evidence, including evidence hidden by the CCC was adduced (cited as evidence).

The CCC's Smiths Beach inquiry and report are now completely discredited and is an embarrassment to CCC CEO Mike Children Overboard Silverstone and the various broken-down lawyers and others associated with the Smiths Beach Inquiry and Report.

We now have a continuing litany of flawed findings, which ignore facts; contain gross errors, and withhold exculpatory evidence from counsel and from reports.

The word around town is that the CCC wanted to get Burke and Grill "at any cost". It strongly appears that the CCC embarked upon this political witch hunt with the sole purpose of tainting and destroying Brian Burke and Julian Grill. The CCC has largely fabricated their case in the Smiths Beach Inquiry to achieve this end.

The Public Service Inquiry's rejection of the CCC's findings is another blow to the CCC's credibility on the Smith's Beach fiasco after Departmental inquiries and those of Parliamentary Inspector Malcolm McCusker QC also cleared public servants Mike Allen and Paul Frewer of any wrongdoing in the matter.

Why would the CCC go to such efforts to ignore the facts? Who were they trying to please? Who has benefited most from the damage done to the public reputation of Brian Burke and Julian Grill?

Could it be Jim McGinty and the ALP's Left faction, as there is now no opposition to the Left Faction within the Labor Party. MP's from these non-Left groups have been frozen out of safe seats, placed in unwinable positions or had their careers terminated in the recent pre-selections. The Left Faction led by McGinty, have got the safe seats and now has complete control over the party, the cabinet and Alan Carpenter.

The CCC has behaved without scruple in the Smiths beach inquiry. It would appear to the Desert Rat and many other observers that this public body has turned into an organ of the State Labor Government.

To further quote T.S. Eliot:-

"And they say that all the Cats whose wicked deeds are widely known
(I might mention Roberts-Smith, I might mention Silverstone)
Are nothing more than agents for the Cat who all the time
Just controls their operations: the Napoleon of Crime!"

Macavity McGinty's not there! - Again

Overcrowded ED's - Walk-out threatened unless more hospital Emergency Department doctors are employed

When the Hospital emergency department doctors warned the Carpenter (McGinty) Government last week, that there would be mass resignations unless more doctors were employed to to tackle the spiralling patient numbers, Health Minister Jim "Macavity" McGinty was not there! He did not respond to The West Australian's calls - like Macavity the Mystery Cat, McGinty was nowhere to be seen.

As usual when bad news or a crisis requires a comment, McGinty is busy up some back alley and unavailable for media comment or explanation!

"You may seek him in the basement, you may look up in the air -
But I tell you once and once again, Macavity's not there!"

Shortly after in the absence of comment by McGinty, aroused from his usual torpor and barely awake, a furiously back-peddling Alan Carpenter blurted to the media - that It was the first he had heard about the shortage of emergency department doctors.

Jim McGinty's last effort to take the pressure off overcrowded Emergency Departments was ambulance ramping, getting ambulances to wait in queues outside the ED - where triage nurses assess patients in the street.

Thirteen ambulances have been queued at times outside Royal Perth and Sir Charles Gairdner Hospitals ED's. The practice of ambulance ramping outside these hospitals is escalating, impeding the St John of God's Ambulance Service's ability to respond to emergencies. Paramedics aren't nurses, can't get vital breaks, are fed up and leaving the service.

One may ask the question, who is running the health system in this State and does anyone in cabinet care? While the overpaid Neil Fong was there, the public had some confidence he knew what he was doing.

The State Government has six weeks to act on the doctor shortage, according to the AMA's Gary Geelboed. The Government (presumably McGinty as Health Minister) now belatedly concedes it recognises there is a problem, but claims there is no funding!

It is not all that surprising when McGinty's Fiona Stanley is $1 billion over budget!

McGinty Hides Elective Surgery Admissions Failure

Doctor may bury their mistakes, but with spin, McGinty buries the truth.

Whenever Health Minister Jim McGinty changes the performance indicators in the Department of Health's Annual Reports or stops publishing certain statistics, the Desert Rat becomes suspicious, because like many people the Rat realises how incompetent McGinty is, considering the resources and funding he has given himself. He has of course complete control over cabinet.

One indicator (# 200) was changed in last year's annual report to include figures for elective surgery at the Peel and Joondalup Health Campuses because it makes the figures look better. Peel and Joondalup both have elective surgery being done by private companies that run these hospitals.

What the figures below show, is that the major metropolitan Government hospitals did about 1500 less operations last financial year, including 1600 less major Category 1 operations. This shows that McGinty is no only failing to get the improved productivity from public hospitals - he is going backwards. He boasts figures for his mini surgery centres, but the number don't add up when you look at the big picture.

		Admissions Category
Financial	1	2	3	Total
Year	Very Urgent	Not so urgent	Can wait
2006 - 07	15 921	14 075	17 626	47 622
2005 - 06	17 545	13 018	18 610	49 173

Is this because of a failure to employ enough nurses and surgeons or is it the poor people management under McGinty that has flattened morale within the public health system staff?
One thing is certain, that our Socialist Left Guru McGinty would never like to admit he was privatising surgery by getting the private Peel and Joondalup Hospitals to cover his problem in the public system. He bragged before the 2004 election that he was reversing the privatisation of the health system by buying the now failed Kaleeya and Galliers Private Hospitals.

Which ever way you look at the figures, they don't add up. McGinty has failed to get the public system functioning properly. Building hospitals won't fix the problem. If McGinty can't get an improved performance from the existing hospitals the situation won't change in new hospitals.

The main challenge is to get the current system working.

That McGinty has failed is shown by the "phased-out" performance indicator. That type of spin displays a lack of integrity and behaviour immensely worse than that of any lobbyist - yet to be found to have committed any offence by McGinty's secret police at the Corruption and Crime Commission.