POWER GRAB: TCC Bureaucrats Thwarted In Bid To Sideline Council’s Oversight

 A cack-handed sneaky manoeuvre comes spectacularly undone, an outcome that clearly signals that the Hill era of soft corruption is over. It was just one councillor who was awake to what was going on,  and his detailed and eloquent calling out of a council executive was political theatre at its most enjoyable.  And valuable. Not that the Bulletin will realise the importance of this pivotal moment in Townsville’s modern history,  well, not until they read this uplifting news in today’s Nest.

With a mayoral race looking to be in the offing sooner rather than later, there is some scuttling and squeaking behind the political skirting boards as the rats and mice assess their chances.  But is there a dire Government plot afoot to force the council to make an move that would make an election mandatory? The Magpie goes all shock, horror.

All in all, a bad week for the Astonisher, which also featured in a triple header hypocrisy over the councillor pay rise. They really have no excuse this time.  Just one timely question could have averted community outrage over this issue, but Jill Poulson and her sleepyheads  were asleep at the wheel as usual.

Bob Katter’s  spittle-flecked blather takes a sinister turn … which is alarming coming from someone so fond of guns.

Has the Crisafulli Government back-tracked on its pledge to fund the Radical Bay road reconstruction?  The ‘Pie asked Adam Baillie to clarify his ambiguous mail-out, but has received no reply.

And national boxing ref  and show supremo Chris ‘Biffo’ Condon is back in the political fray, and true to form, he doesn’t pull any punches regarding our council.

And should pepper spray be legalised in Queensland? The Magpie sees a big down side, and besides,  he texplains why he reckons it’s hardly necessary, anyway.

And remembering Red: The Magpie’s personal memory of an unforgettable night with Eileen Bond.

Certain registrations required to keep the Nest around have been demanded, as the end of the financial year wound up.  So there is a slight anxious tremble in the hand as The ‘Pie makes his weekly suggestion of a donation to help things stay on an even keel.  Like the news cycle itself, costs never cease, so if you can join those generous souls who have helped out over the past 12 months (sincere thanks, folks, you know who you are) it will be greatly appreciated. The appropriate link is at the bottom of the blog.

The Ambusher Ambushed 

The ‘Pie enjoys a schadenfreude moment as much as the next bird,  but it is all the more pleasurable when the discomfort of another is totally unexpected.

Such a moment came out of the blue at last Thursday’s council meeting, and was a moment  which signalled the end of the deceit, deception, arrogance and soft corruption of the ruinous Hill era.  And, if she’s got any awareness,  Ann Maree Greaney will realise that  a brake has been put on her nascent  ambition to play political silly buggers – she has already proved she is a dunderhead in that arena.

This long-overdue pivotal change was been brought about by one lone councillor stepping up with irrefutable argument to challenge a naked power grab engineered by the council’s hapless legal head David Sewell.

The matter under consideration was in effect a renewal of a standard Register of (the power of) Delegation given to the CEO.

This Register traditionally allows the council CEO to make certain decisions without reference to a councillors or require their debate and possibly vote on the matter. In other words, it delegates areas where they can be  by-passed on mostly day to day operational issues, like rissoling an under performing staff member,  settling fridge space allocations in the kitchenette, or choosing his office carpet, that sort of stuff. But also, more significantly, it has hitherto given him the power of signing off on redundancy and/or bonus severance payments for executives. And we all know to our detriment through recent events, how that power resulted the city being so spectacularly ripped off.

But this year, it appears that the Local Government minister has sent out a document to all councils, outlining their choices so they can tailor the delegated powers to suit there own circumstances. The doco is 540 pages of the usual convoluted guff these things run to, so a council can pick and choose which powers it is happy to delegate to the unelected CEO.  This is the first time that there is choice, or for that matter, that the delegation List has been available to the councillors.

Enter stage left the TCC bumbling legal drone Sewell, ever looking like the superior class swot who is bullied in the playground to surrender his lunch money. He didn’t declare it, but it soon became clear he was in there batting for the backroom bum polishers, not those elected by the community. Or the community itself, for that matter.

According to Mr Sewell, he had a staff member go through the detail of 540 page menu of delegation choices,  and pick out those options ‘best suited to the TCC’.   (Ha!)

‘Tailored to’ and ‘cherry picked’ were two recurring phrases. As he stumbled, bumbled and muttered through his presentation, it was quite apparent he was confident that this matter would be waved through – after all, it takes a keen legal mindset, well beyond a lay councillor’s ability, to go through 540 pages, and boil down to 147 pages for this council, to adopt.  Choosing what is best for them. It was obvious he figured the lesser mortals at the council table would have a sigh and then raise a languid hand, while wondering about which lunch venue they would soon grace..  Mr Sewell decided it was not necessary to be in any way specific about any of the little ticking times bombs he well knew were in this Delegation List, these yokels  wouldn’t know  and reckoned anyway they wouldn’t care.

But he didn’t reckon on Clr Andrew Robinson.

He not only cared, but he had spotted more than a few outrageous suggestions – little ticking time bombs – hidden in the proposal, and he quickly became a bomb disposal specialist.  When Robinson was given the floor and prefaced his remarks with ‘I have a few issues with this’, the fleeting look of fear and irritation – was it too much to say ‘panic’ ? – on Sewell face was worth the entrance money alone.

And Sewell’s apprehension was justified, as Robinson forensically exposed this document as nothing less than a power grab by the executive staff, taking away significant powers from the elected councillors and vesting it solely in the CEO.

Given this city’s history, this was revisiting and doubling down on the decade-long Nightmare on Walker Street  that we have endured.

And that wasn’t about to happen as long as Robbo’s arse pointed to the ground.  As he put it, he was dead against giving any single person the ‘keys to the treasury’ without council oversight.

The Magpie will now allow Clr Robinson to put his own case verbatim to an increasingly fidgety Sewell, and to his bored looking colleagues and who, with the exception of Clr Batkovic, appeared to meet Sewell’s estimation of non-engagement.  And it ends with Sewell looking like a naughty schoolboy, blushing furiously because he’d been caught looking up teacher’s dress.  If you enjoy this sort of entertainment – even if it loses some of its frission after the event – check it out here - Sewell starts droning at 34.05, but the real blood-letting fun starts at 48.20. It’s long but important enough to let you judge the whole for yourself.  Robinson said:

“ I have a couple of issues with this register, and I fully appreciate that in the past, these powers were just signed over without a full list, but now, having access to full the list, I believe we need to workshop this some more . I appreciate we have had time to go through and read these individual delegations but I think it is something we need to discuss as a group to determine if we, as a council, want to hand over these powers.’

‘I have issues that there was no mention here of dollar amounts that are attached to some delegations ergo we ae literally handing over the keys to the treasury to thre CEO. Andwhile I have full confidence in the current CEO, that does not mean to say that we will always have a good competent CEO who has the community’s interest at heart, and therefore we are literally handing them a blank cheque, with no checks and balance.’

‘Reading through the delegations as well, I feel it is lacking some of those checks and balances so for example, we are now assigning the powers to appoint the Audit Committee over to the CEO. Again, the purpose of the audit committee. Is to try and look at what is happening within our organisation, and we are therefore handing over that power – potentially – to someone who we actually want to have audited. For those of you who are unaware of what  (the power of) agency theory is,  agency theory is basically that people in positions of power will always look after their own self-interests first, and hence we have board of directors on companies, or in this case here, we have councillors who should actually check the CEO’s powers. By handing him all these delegations, I believe we are diluting our responsibilities and we are driving with our hands off the wheel, so to speak. So for that reason, what I would like to ask of this council that we delay the approval of this list of delegation until we have been able to go through 547 pages, step by step, looking at each of those delegations  and determine whether we want to hand them over.

So I’ll look at some of these other ones so people will know what I’m talking about.

An example is the power to include on the rate notice an amount other than an amount for rates or charges payable to council. So in theory there could be something added on to the rates notice, without us being informed, and the CEO would be quite within his rights not to have to notify us of that.

(Another example is) the power to appoint a chairperson and a deputy chairperson of the local Disaster Management group, agains something councillor should retain control of, and not delegate that power.

So those are just some of the minor examples and I’m not going to take up any more time, but to say that there or other ones in there that I think we should be looking at.

At this juncture, Clr Batkovic asked a couple of questions that tied Sewell up in knots resulting in a completely preposterous non-answer, but that just added fuel to Robbo’s fire. He was particularly incensed at the proposed right of the CEO to shower any amount of  compensation money he felt like on any claimant.  Robinson made it clear  – he used the word ‘unscrupulous’  and was making a hypothetical – that he was well aware of and greatly displeased with Walker Street’s recent history.  And you will spot in here a stiletto-like reference to Thompson, it was a show stopper,: Batkovic in particular had trouble keeping her composure.

He resumed:

“Following on from councillor Batkovic’s comments, there is a very good example here – 82.9 – power to agree with a claimant with the amount of compensation payable. Again, this is the reason why I think there should be dollar limitations, and as Clr Batkovic has said, we have full confidence in the current CEO but working (McCabe having a possible)  lotto win tomorrow,  we what maybe be an unscrupulous CEO, or a person named Barry or somebody else take over, in which case, by these powers that we are handing over, they would not necessarily have to report back to us that they have made claim or the amount because it is within their own delegation, as opposed as coming back to council and seeking the authority if it’s over a set dollar amount. So for those reasons I would like to see dollar amounts attached to the dollar amounts that the CEO can carry out day-to-day operations, without coming back to us with minutiae detail. So I agree with 98% of the delegations, but there are some in here that we would want to know whether we are making a claimed payment out and how much that’s likely to be and if it’s above the delegation of the CEO that we are allocating to him, then it would come back to this council for a decision.

Joe McCabe understood the value of tactical retreat – although the whole issue may have just been a case of Sewell toadying up to him – and himself suggested he that it would be best if here was more councillor input in workshops before a vote was taken. So from the initial motion, it then became

But Foodtrucks Greaney just can’t help herself, and provided us with a toe curling, fist-clenching moment. When Joe McCool was away advising a staffer of the new wording of the altered motion, Greaney put on her best shit-eating grin, leaned into the microphone and said, ” Do you know that all the councillors who voted in this great CEO are sitting around this table?”

There were downcast eyes, slight smiles and nods, and silent WTF’s all round at this coquettish fail which was just embarrassing brown-nosing.

She just can’t help herself.

No Longer Able To Hide

Public servants are rarely considered fair game in the media, on the spurious basis ‘I wuz jus doin’ me job’.  That’s changing with the new media landscape.  And why not, some unelected people make decisions that affect us financially, or take away an amenity? Why shouldn’t comeback be a reasonable response?

Local show boss Chris Condon and his governing board are people not safely trifled with – just for starters, anyone who has access to more than half a dozen of the most prominent billboards in town should be at least handled respectfully.  And Chris and his crew also have access to the widely circulated annual show program and associated publications,  where free character readings can be strategically aired.

This is something the man they call The Major – Matt Richardson – has just found out. Richardson is the main back room public service bum polisher at the TCC and is the man behind the recent funding cuts to community events.  Those cuts haven’t pleased anyone, but some have great ability to let their displeasure be known. Like Chris Condon and his overlords.

Here’s The Magpie’s Conspiracy Theory Du Jour

There are some around town punting that a mayoral election is on the cards in the next few months. This is based on regulations demanding one if a mayor leaves office for any reason mid-term. Now at the moment, the chiseller in chief Troy Thompson is on fully paid suspension (for reasons known only to the government) but when he’s feather-bedded year is up around October, the government will have to piss or get off the pot, as they say at Government House.

But here’s the thing. It is absolutely impossible and indeed unthinkable for Townsville for this charlatan to return to Walker Street, his self-interested and deranged mewlings notwithstanding. Even Thompson has dropped off interest in becoming a bargain basement Lazarus, putting all his pathetic efforts into bluffing a payout from the jellybacked Brisbane prevaricators.

But wait one moment. Try on this possibility for size.

When the suspension ends, the government does a Uriah Heap, wrings its hands and says there’s nothing we can do, he has to be reinstated. What would happen then? Well, just for starters, and the government clearly know this, it would be both unworkable and untenable, given what’s been going on … so there would be only one possible course of action – council would resign en masse, and a whole new election would be necessary.

If a Queensland council resigns en masse (all at once), the State Government can intervene. The Minister for Local Government can appoint an administrator to manage the council’s affairs until elections can be held. Alternatively, the Governor in Council may dissolve the council, requiring new elections. The specific actions taken would depend on the circumstances and the timing of the resignations.  The timing of the resignations is crucial. If resignations occur close to a scheduled election, the government might choose to let the election proceed without replacing the council. If resignations happen mid-term, an administrator is more likely to be appointed until new elections are arranged.

But with the council functioning normally,  as it now is, and there being no need for an administrator since there was one specific reason for the resignations,  it would be a courageous government that would ignore the community’s clear dissatisfaction with a single person. But guess what? The councillors will have done what the spineless government would not, and hjas manoeuvred them into the mass resignation, making an overall election necessary.  And Thompson would not be able to pursue any claim in that particular matter, and be unlikely to pursue a civil claim against anybody – he couldn’t afford it, and his dingbat base wouldn’t see any upside in funding him.

Some are girding the loins just in case the suddenly need to go into battle.

The Walrus Max Tomlinson is quietly pushing the unelectable David Kippin to make a run … yup, just what we need as mayor, a bloke who was sacked by TEL,  and is up to his neck in a legal stoush involving the new private hospital at West End – and backed by a far right wing misogynist who was himself sacked from Ian MacDonald’s staff for sexist behaviour online – what a winning ticket.

But more realistically, there’s is another familiar name re-emerging into public life on issues that make it crystal clear he wants to return to Walker St, if not higher office.

This is just one of several posts that Frothy has been dropping on us lately, and the subjects (pepper spray, his call for mandatory sentencing and so on)  are matters outside council’s remit. So maybe he;’s hoping to get a nod from party bosses for a tilt at Brisbane. Or maybe just lifting his profile in case a mayoral sprint comes about.

But Pepper Spray? Has Anyone thought This Through?

The Magpie has two reasons for thinking legalising public purchase of pepper spray isn’t a smart idea

The first is the most important: if we get it, then they get it too.  These little grubs are not a sophisticated, organised outfit, that’s one reason they don’t have, for instance, ready access to firearms. And making a debilitating non-lethal hand weapon like capsicum spray available to the public also make it available to them.

The second reason is that as far as The ‘Pie is concerned, the idea is just an mild upgrade on an already legally available ‘equaliser’ that the ‘Pie has for years around all the time… a can of Baygon.  It’s got a two metre range and has the same effect as pepper spray, perhaps not quite as severe but effective nonetheless.

There are whole range of household items that can be classed as equalisers, Bunnings gardening aisles are full of them, too.  Better than legalising something that may well rebound on you, given the offender-favouring laws we have in Queensland.

An Hypocrisy Triple Header by The Bulletin

The staff arrive to start work at the Astonisher.

“Good morning, editor. I would ask you how you are, Ms Poulson, but I know you have banned any of us asking the simplest of questions, so just have a nice day.’

Whimsy aside, this is the daftest week of non-questions in the paper’s recent history. The matter is this story.

As reported in The Nest two weeks ago,  back in January Greaney grandiosely told the Bulletin she would not vote for the pay rise mandated by the tribunal because so many in the community were doing it tough. It was a smarmy bit of smart arsery, because Greaney knew, and the Bulletin should have,  that the pay rise for councillors was automatic unless some  virtuous councillors called a special meeting to either refuse, or decrease the amount of extra lolly. But when the raise went through automatically on July 1, with nary a murmur from our dearly beloved elected,  the paper sounded shocked to the core that not only were councillors getting a rise ‘in these times of cost of living pressures’ but that the suspended croo … sorry, suspended mayor also go the extra loot … in his case, about six grand extra.

Although Greaney simpered her demure refusal of the raise in January, it never occurred to the paper to ask the simplest of questions – one more obvious than Dolly Parton on a cold day –  as the dead line approached. That is, ‘Clr Greaney, are you going to call a special meeting to argue that councillors should not accept the pay rise?” Had they asked that question a month or so ago, maybe Greaney may have felt obliged to do so, to back up here halo-polishing boast. And maybe even prompted the rose to be knocked back (yeah, as if.)

But rage is always good for the news business,  so the question wasn’t asked, and the Bulletin still hasn’t canvassed why such a meeting wasn’t called (which under regs, can be called by any councillor). Instead, the paper made indignant noises, mainly about Thompson increasing his theft from the public treasury, although he is the one person who didn’t have a say in the matter, and could not have called a meeting even if he had wanted to. He actually said he didn’t want the raise, and he would give the extra six grand to a charity of his choosing. Yeah, sure, right, mate.

But when this bogus gum flapping was quoted in the Bulletin,  no one pointed out that if he felt he didn’t deserve the raise, why did he think he deserved the $252k he was getting for doing nothing for a year – why didn’t he give that to charity, too?

Of course, the Bulletin iditor will hardly admit to this dereliction of her duty, because  a story about a suspended and disgraced mayor getting a raise for doing nothing was a much better story than a council rejecting a pay increase.

The Magpie has a good mind to ring Harvey Norman and complain.

Creepy Quote Of The Week

The award goes to the founder of the Kattertonics, Bob Katter.

Take down names of anyone with the temerity to oppose your view of Sunday trading, Bob? And do what?

It really is time to retire so you can spend more time with your guns, mate.

A Radical Departure? Clarification Needed, Mr Baillie 

This dropped unbidden into the Nest during the week.

But looking through typical literary hand job, it was what was NOT said that prompted The ‘Pie to action. After all sorts of the usual self congratulations, we came to this at the end.

No mention of the restoration of the Radical Bay road, which Baillie had boasted about on more than one occasion, including in the Bulletin.

So had the funding been diverted or the idea dropped for some arcane reason? The ‘Pie fired off an inquiring email, but hasn’t heard back. Will keep you posted.

Amerika

It was all about big beautiful bullshit over in the States during the week. But the events surrounding the despicable Trump attack on his own vulnerable people yielded a new entry to the growing file of names matched to their owner’s jobs. Check out the bloke on the right.

Uh Oh, It’s An Emergency,  All Hands On Dick

As Denis Denuto so famously said in The Castle,  ‘it’s the vibe, man, it’s the vibe.’

Of course, for blokes who have been married more than 10 years, this is like telling grandma how to suck … eggs.

……….

And just like that , another Nest disappears up the celestial tube to heavenly accounts (forgiveness section). Where your future depends  on deeds, and money counts for nothing up there. HOWEVER, back down here …. well, the donate button is below. God bless you.