Left Utopias and the real world

Education is where the Left have done the lasting damage.

Love him or hate him, Bill Gates hits the nail on the head with this speech he recently gave at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.

Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule 2 : The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3 : You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4 : If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5 : Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.

Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time..

Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

McGinty's stupidity on cannabis laws exposed

Smokescreen to hide McGinty's failed cannabis laws?

The Minister for Health and Attorney General Jim McGinty is at it again, attempting to dishonestly spin his way out of his failed liberalisation of drugs with trendy cannabis law "reforms", the "success" of which he has crowed about for years.

The Liberals have always opposed McGinty's trendy drug "reforms" which encourage the drug culture and substance abuse, and contribute to and exacerbate mental illness, particularly schizophrenia.

McGinty has hidden behind an inquiry which has recommended he dump the patently foolish elements of his policy which allowed cannabis to be grown in homes and stupidly increased the amount cannabis that drug users can carry.

McGinty now says the Liberal Party's proposed changes to cannabis laws are similar to those already agreed to by Labor!

The Opposition leader, Colin Barnett, has reaffirmed the Liberal's position to repeal the laws, which would make the possession of cannabis plants an offence and cut the cannabis possession threshold by two-thirds.

McGinty was too gutless to defend his cannabis laws - probably because some opinion poll commissioned at taxpayers expense showed that most of the public thought McGinty's laws were dumb.

In typical McGinty spin he now says he is "making sure we're tough in dealing with cannabis laws."

McGinty should be frank about his many stuff-ups and not continually treat the public as fools. The public deserves a more respect from McGinty.

The Untouchables - Left Lobbyists Part 2

Lobbyist Clive Brown whose integrity is admired by Carpenter

The Desert Rat's next takes the microscope to former Left Faction and Labor Party lobbyist Clive Brown, the former Minister for State Development in the Gallop Government and MP for Bassendean.

Alan Carpenter (preaching from the Moral High-Ground) told Parliament in an answer to a question from Greens MP Giz Watson, that Clive Brown was not a lobbyist; he was employed by the Geraldton Iron Ore Alliance (GIOA) and didn't need to be on the Lobbyists Register.

Clive Brown was employed by the GIOA shortly after he left Parliament and his Ministerial position as a consultant and was later made Chairman of the Alliance lobbying group.

Read on and see what you think! Alan Carpenter certainly takes us mere mortals for idiots.

First the Desert Rat would like to say that he is not aware of the Corruption and Crime Commission investigating any of the activities of lobbyists associated with or formerly associated with the Jim McGinty controlled Left Faction of the ALP.

Shortly after retiring from Parliament in 2005 Clive Brown was hired by BHP Billiton as a lobbyist (the euphemisn "consultant" was used). Clive Brown had earlier appointed Mark Ritter (a lawyer with links to the and ALP's Left Faction) to inquire into the deaths at BHP's HBI plant in Port Hedland in June 2004. In November 2004, three months before Clive Brown retired Mark Ritter's report was completed and tabled in Parliament.

The Desert Rat understands that Clive Brown's appointment as a consultant / lobbyist to BHP was approved by Alan Carpenter. The Desert Rat thinks that taking up an appointment with BHP was a breach of propriety - it was not proper to seek or accept such an appointment so soon after retiring where he could use confidential information.

Entrepreneur Andrew Forrest was not amused that Brown was now working for BHP, he told the Sydney Morning Herald that it was highly improper. As the recent Minister for Mines, he was aware of all of the Fortescue Metals Group's (FMG) plans and now fresh from the Ministerial position he was working for Forrest's competitor. There was the sensitive issue of FMG's access to BHP's private railway as well.

About six months after retirement Clive Brown was employed as a lobbyist by Griffin Coal. When retiring, he complained to Rebecca Carmody of ABC Stateline that he was "burned out" and that was why he was leaving Parliament.

Brown was a very ordinary Minister for State Development but certainly better than Fran Logan the current Minister for State Development also (fortuitously) from the Left Faction.

His claims to fame are taking the credit for opening-up the iron ore province in the Murchison. When the big problem arose which Clive Brown could not handle or fix, such as environmental problems, road access problems and the proposed Murchison Radio Telescope Array, help was called in. The Desert Rat has heard from industry sources that Julian Grill (and possibly Brian Burke) were called in to do the heavy lifting to solve these problems, to remove the brick walls Brown hit and could not handle and get the show moving again.

The irony is, that if Grill and Burke had been around from the beginning, the rail and port delays for the Murchison producers would have been sorted out years ago. As well as contacts and entrees, which most lobbyists trade on, Grill and Burkes main asset was their problem solving skills - creating win-win situations.

The other claim to fame is the $25 billion sale of North West Shelf LNG gas to China. This contract was a major cock-up where the Desert Rat doesn't believe Clive Brown discharged his duty to the State as Minister for State Development. His job was to ensure the State got full value for the gas. It is now accepted (except by those involved) that the gas was sold for less than half the price they should have got at a time when LNG was in keen world demand.

The deal was a major long-term sellout of Australia's resources. The gas is pegged at the equivalent of $25 a barrel of oil, about $US100 below the current world price!

To quote Alan Carpenter's defense of Clive Brown the lobbyist in Parliament he said:

"Once a person leaves political life - and I intend to one day - you're a free citizen."

Why isn't that rule applied to Julian Grill and Brian Burke?

Despite the ongoing Corruption and Crime Commission Grill - Burke witch hunt; all of whose finding to date have all been discredited, neither have been shown to have been involved in any misconduct.

In the ALP these days there is one rule for the Left Faction and another for the Centre - Right faction members.

And, by the way, Clive Brown is not a lobbyist - Alan Carpenter said so.!

The Untouchables - Left Lobbyists Part 1

Scrutinising Megan Anwyl - an Untouchable?

The Desert Rat thought it may be illuminating to look at the activities of political lobbyists who were former members of the Socialist Left faction of the Labor Party and former MP's.

Why haven't any of these lobbyists beeen pursued or put under the scrutiny by the Crime and Corruption Commmission. Why have only the centre and right politicians come under scruting - some of it malicious.

Are Left faction apparatchiks off-limits; protected species who have political immunity from scrutiny?

Megan Anwyl who had the ignominy of being the only ALP MP to ever lose the safe State ALP held seat of Kalgoorlie since federation. Anwyl was the only Labor member to lose her seat when Geoff Gallop led the ALP to victory in 2001. She went south when everyone else was heading north.

Anwyl would have lost the seat four years earlier if it wasn't for Julian Grill taking over and re-jigging her election advertising campaign which she didn't realise was badly damaging her prospects.

She has since hung around Perth hoping for Left Faction endorsement for a safe seat, but she had a snowflakes hope in hell, as the Left Faction campaign managers and apparatchik's involved in her failed 2001 campaign found her impossible to work with.

Anwyl coundn't even get a sinicure appointment from a Left Minister. It was left to Centre Faction's Transport Minister Allanah McTiernan to come to her rescue and provide a board position on the Esperance Port Authority (EPA).

Anwyl showed no interest in keeping the Kalgoorlie to Esperance railway line open when it was under threat of closure by Westrail and which was vital to the viability of the Esperance Port. That was left to Julian Grill, Mark Nevill and Graeme Campbell to secure the future of the rail link during its threatened closure.

The Desert Rat recalls the antipathy she had to the mining industry when a Member of Parliament. A Damascene conversion seems to have taken place since her defeat, as the mining and exploration now puts the butter and jam on her EPA bread.

At the Esperance Port Authority, Megan Anwyl was on the Board before during and after the lead carbonate poisoning of the town and it population. All the males Board members have either left the Board or have not been reappointed - but the precious Ms Anwyl continues. She was there before and during the negotiations to ship lead carbonate from Magellan's Wiluna mine through the Port of Esperance.

Anwyl seem untouchable at the Esperance Port Authority when it comes to accepting her share of the blame for the poisoning. Why on earth did Allanah McTiernam reappointed her? Does Allanah think the Left have treated her unfairly?

Since getting dumped from her Kalgoorlie seat by her electors, Ms Anwyl has plied her trade as a political lobbyist, first with the Labor Party aligned lobby group Hawker Brittian and now out on her own. Why would she leave a group so well connected to the ALP and who are literally "raking it in" under Labor Governments all over Australia - away from the scrutinising eye of the CCC? Was she dumped?

The Desert Rat is aware she had a sinecure with the BHP Billiton's Ravensthorpe Nickel Mine Project early in her wilderness period. They actually complained about the lack of progress they were making with the Gallop Government. The Desert Rat's informant referred them to Julian Grill - unintendedly starting his demand as a lobbyist. Julian Grill achieved in a few months what Anwyl didn't make progress on in nine months. The Desert Rat would like to examine the Esperance Port Authority Board minutes to find out if Megan Anwyl disclosed any lobbying conflicts of interest while on the EPA Board.

The Desert Rat asks the question: Why should any lobbyist be on a Government Board that has dealings with the lobbyists clients?

Her new clients are iron ore hopeful who recently engaged her to chair the North West Iron Ore Alliance and Skywest Ltd. She has been flying from Perth to Esperance each month for five or more years at the taxpayers expense overseaing the the EPA pollute the town with lead. It's not surprising she has Skywest as her client.

Let's hope she has learnt a little bit about the basic physical chemistry of lead in recent times.

If Jim McGinty's Corruption and Crime Commission had been even-handed in its politicking it would have examined the activities of more lobbyists than just Julian Grill and Brian Burke.

The Desert Rat is waiting for a post from CEO Mike Silverstone (through a third party!) justifying his his strange activities.

McGinty's truth-in-sentencing - the Spin and Reality

Attorney General erodes public confidence in the justice system

When introducing the "Truth-in-Sentencing" legislation into State Parliament in 2002, Labor Attorney General Jim McGinty said:

"The end result will be a more understandable and workable sentencing regime, which will increase community confidence in the sentencing process."

That was the spin. The "real" truth is the legislation shows McGinty was not only deceptive about this legislation, but also grossly incompetent as well. Far from McGinty's claim above, the legislation is confusing, unnecessarily complex, grossly misleading and down-right incompetent.

The real aim of this legislation was to reduce the rate of imprisonment, which seems to have been missed by former the Liberal Shadow Attorney General Sue Walker who handled the Bill.

More from McGinty during the debate:

"...the Government is currently progressing a range of reforms in the adult justice arena aimed at reducing the rate of imprisonment in Western Australia, known as the reducing imprisonment strategy."

The sham was there for all to see. The impression McGinty gave is that serious offenders would spend more time in gaol. Offenders would not automatically have their sentence cut by one-third and that they would, when released, continue on parole for the "remainder" of the original sentence.

After reading the legislation and debate, the Desert Rat can only conclude that Sue Walker and some others involved with the debate were very naive. They had the wool pulled over their eyes by McGinty. Why do they behave like underlings and hold this court jester in awe? They must really think Jim McGinty really is the Emperor of Western Australia.

Like Macavity the Mystery Cat, Attorney General Jim McGinty is hiding, and nowhere to be seen on this issue. He has gutlessly avoided any public comment on his embarrassing "Truth in Sentencing" fiasco - and offered no defence! He was uncontactable.

Read what McGinty said in the debate and try to separate the reality from the spin?

" ... the concept of truth in sentencing is enshrined in the two Bills. The current system of providing an automatic one-third remission of sentences is to be removed. Likewise, the current two-tiered parole eligibility date formula, which is often difficult to interpret and understand, will be removed. In their place will be a system whereby offenders will be under sanction for the whole of the sentence imposed by a court. For some offenders this will mean serving their whole sentence in prison. For others, parole will be a consideration, and if released from custody, the offender will be subject to a range of conditions for the remainder of his or her sentence."

What was a bad idea in the beginning has just got progressively worse. Even the title is redolent of McGinty spin, "truth-in-sentencing" - very different from reality where sentences for abominable crimes are now automatically cut by one-third.

The result is that more criminals, murderers and rapists are spending less time in gaol.

McGinty's clean-out of travel funds?

Patriot Jim's walk on the wild side

Well the Desert Rat was very surprised to hear that Jim McGinty has been walking the Kokoda Trail in New Guinea.

Surely he wasn't paying homage to Australian Diggers as he has typically shown an ambivalence even antipathy to our armed forces - like many from the Left.

Was he was looking at how best to run a third world health system, to prepare us for the worst? The Desert Rat thought he would be looking west, to his mentor on health administration Robert Mugabe, as Kalgoorlie MLA Matt Birney wryly observed in one parliamentary debate.

Perhaps he went there to campaign against the mining group that plans to develop a mine in the area? (see cartoon)

Well the Desert Rat's guess is that Jim McGinty was spending the remainder of his parliamentary imprest travel account before the State election. About $20 000 a year is given to WA State MP's to travel overseas to further their knowledge for the benefit of Western Australians. What was in it for us?

Did McGinty travel at the recommendation of Kokoda Trail aficionado Brigadier Mike "Children Overboard" Silverstone the CEO of the Corruption and Crime Commission? Did our self-proclaimed Emperor of Western Australia complete the Kokoda trek in a chair carried by Fuzzy-Wuzzy angels?

Will McGinty be vacating his Fremantle seat soon after the election, for son-in-law Tim Kucera if the takeover of the CFMEU fails?

Well, the Desert Rat would like to know where the money for the trip came from? Was it from us taxpayers? Why did Jim McGinty go three months before an election when both his major portfolios are in crisis - a pressing financial decision related to cleaning out his free travel account?

Perhaps a question in parliament or some probing by a media hack may be in order, to tweak the Attorney's probably chafed googlies. The response will probably have nothing to do with the question, but will certainly have a word the Left abhor and one that will surprise his army of press corp - patriotism!

Carpenter squats on the Moral High Ground - Hey You Get off my Cloud

How does it feel, to be on your own.

The irony of double standards was not lost on the Desert Rat when Premier Alan Carpenter sneered at Catholic Archbishop Barry Hickey, lecturing him about how "it's incumbent upon people in higher office to respond quickly and appropriately" to important issues.

Carpenter has never had much liking for the Catholic Church or patience for anything involving the Christian religion, so his opportunistic grasp for the moral high ground at Hickey's expense, is not surprising.

To look at Carpenter's own performance, the Desert Rat can say he is alarmed at how few Aboriginal males have been prosecuted for sexual assaulting children in Western Australian communities. Yes, it does take costly police resources and yes, it does and would take a lot of time for Jim McGinty's underfunded DDP to prosecute the dozens if not hundreds of cases being avoided.

The Desert Rat believes the main reason there has been so few prosecutions is, the political consequences, particularly the Kimberley and Pilbara electorates, where the ALP relies heavily on the Aboriginal vote to hold seats. The Carpenter Government can't afford to put large Aboriginal communities offside and lose or split the Aboriginal vote. Carpenter has been going through the motions and occasionally making the right noises, but has essentially been sheilding the ALP and hiding on this issue.

The Desert Rat was expecting to see a number of charges laid against some Aboriginal community members - some, known to him, but nothing has eventuated except an "understanding of the difficult situation".

Contrast Alan Carpenter and the ALP's pathetic performance in Aboriginal affairs with that of the churches in the remote areas of Western Australia. Even the church apologists are starting to see the reality of the unfairly discredited churches' contributions - instead of acting as a cheer squad to those who view Indigenous affairs through pink-tinted glasses.

Aboriginal literacy was decimated by Alan Carpenter's incompetence during his term as Minister for Education. He has failed to get the Department of Aboriginal Affairs to function, his crowning achievement was to change its name. It is still starved of funds (the Minister Michelle Roberts is from the wrong faction) and ALP policy is rudderless.

Alan Carpenter sat on the Dawn Casey Report into the Department of Indigenous Affairs for 6 months, before he released it under coercion from FOI applications. Twelve months on, still no action, no change, no ideas.

Carpenter ignored Lt-General Sanderson's advice but has no plan or even a suggestion of a sense of direction himself. Carpenter was initially in denial of the generic problems in Halls Creek, Kalumburu and Oombulguri - one wonders by the administrative response, if he is still really "in denial".

He lavishly rebuilt two schools in his own electorate (Melville and Willagee) which meant dilapidated remote schools such as Fitzroy Crossing District High had to wait 7 years longer despite being the school in the worst condition in the state.

Alan Carpenter is a pretender, a squatter on the high moral ground; enveloped by an ideas vacuum, peering down his nose at mere mortals who are not up to his "moral and ethical" standards.