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!!