A Systems Approach

Now we know that the shire had a systems failure that allowed James Trail to spend $170,000 without authorisation. We know Gary Evershed did not notice the $170,000 back in 2008 when he was paid to undertake his well publicised due diligence.

Strange times in the Wild West

Not since we read of Richard Lewis having his car tampered with and Julien Grill and Brian Burke’s brother Terry killing people with their motor cars and avoiding any legal redress have events in government taken such a strange turn.

Shock headline!

Was there a note of surprise in Sandy Powell’s headline last week, “Council Votes in favour of residents”? Why would that be? Council are elected to represent residents and so favouring us should surely be expected?

CCC v Cowboys?

When public money is spent on investigations and reports by Commissioners, and the Corruption and Crime Commission investigating problems with local government activities do we get good value? Or will the cowboys always win?

Procedural Fairness?

What does procedural fairness mean to you?

Do you believe that we should all be treated fairly and that justice should be balanced so that rich or poor we all receive justice?

Does Language Matter?

Does the size of our vocabulary, our capacity to parse, our ability to comprehend the many meanings that can be resolved from any given phrase in the English language matter?

I've got an answer!

This is just what I needed. Maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but I have got an answer, albeit a bit of a hand knitted and dropped a few stitches sort of fluffy thing. The sort of answer that Brian Burke might be proud of. All the right words, just not necessarily in the right order.

The Great Gourmet Escape Scam

Was the AMRTimes joking last Friday?

They published what must surely be a spoof article about the Gourmet Escape and the difficulties surrounding it. Difficulty in obtaining financial information? Surely not?

Gift Horse Anyone?

There used to be an old saying, "Never look a gift horse in the mouth."

Which suggested that anything that was offered for free didn't need to be checked over too thoroughly. Just accept the gift and be grateful. Good advice? Not necessarily.