Something For Everybody Or Nothing For Anybody? It’s A Gump-Like Choccy Box Mayoral Field, Gawd Knows What We’re Gonna Get.

Before noms closed, a very perceptive Magpie mate made this observation,  “So far, without better candidates, it looks like a contest of who will be the least troublesome Mayor. Not the best.” Alas, it seems his. crystal ball was on the money.  So far, so disheartening.

If the field is not all we could hope for, then opening campaign salvos are even less so, demonstrating a weird reading of community priorities. But one candidate missed a golden opportunity to sock it to the present regime.

The incurious Bulletin bellyflops into the water park wet dream, with nary a question in sight.  Our councillors were just as mute.  But The Magpie says there is good evidence to call out this as utter bullshit.

And is old mate Dolan Hayes involved in reviving the failed cheap-end Hilton Hotel that had been proposed next to the stadium? You’d be excused for thinking so, unless you believe in coincidences.

The DMR fuck-ups for the long suffering Paluma residents never ends … the latest social disruption is because someone apparently forgot to bring the dynamite.

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First,  For The Record

To quote old Gilbert & Sullivan: oh, joy and rapture unforeseen.  Except this recipe for further turmoil was so easily seen a mile off.

We will look at them all over the coming days,  but first, a Magpie advisory just in case you thought things couldn’t get any worse.

What could possibly go wrong?

But We’re Off And Running Anyway

Given the not totally unexpected out-of-touch start to the mayoral campaign, The ‘Pie has decided to delay finalising the questions to be put to all candidates by email. We have plenty of time, and all your helpful, sometimes funny, occasionally insightful, sometimes balmy, and sometime bullseye suggestions have been collated and are being refined down.  A bit more time will allow us to perhaps include glaring questions the Bulletin is sure not to ask. Keep an eye out and sent anything noted to comments.

But so far, it’s been an unedifying start,  with Dametto and Greaney attacking each other with negative salvos, a most ill advised way to go about things in Townsville.  We simply couldn’t give a fuck what you two think of each other, we are, strangely enough, only interested in what you say you will do for us and for the city’s tattered reputation.

Things didn’t improve when by some strange reasoning,  there was a group-think misreading of community priority concerns which decided that the current dead letter issue of parking meters on The Strand and parking in the CBD were the uppermost concerns  in voters minds.  Not hard to guess where a candidates stands on this (big surprise, they’e all against the meter issue, possibly because it sparked the most genuine outcries of public rage of recent times.) With the major exception of Ma Greaney, who was silent on the issue.

Reflecting his Italian background, Nick ent all operatic for The Astonisher.

He went full pelt down the bread and circuses route. Somehow,  Dametto has  decided what we all want is a makeover of The Strand. Which makes one wonder who the hell he’s been talking to. The council has already said (ho hum) they plan to refresh the Strand, particularly the Rockpool, so what was this upsizing of the already announced plan all about. Ah, maybe it was this surefire vote winner.

Strangely, right after this statement, one of those councillors, Ma Greaney is quoted saying council has already put a Strand upgrade in motion, and fired off a pathetic popgun at Dametto saying‘What I’m concerned about is how long Nick wants to lock up public access to the Strand for (his) major changes that will have minimal improvement.” But funnily enough, although Dametto (and Kippin – see next)  appear to have emphatically ruled out Strand meters,  Greaney did not say a word about the issue. This although she was the one who initially pushed it in council, and clearly had workshopped it with our Infrastructure pomposity Matt Richardson.  You can bet she’ll say something this week, but anything short of definitively ruling out Strand meters permanently will not be enough. Just having the possibility  hanging around in the background  is dishonest dealing of the most arrogant sort. And a vote killer.

The Kipper Was Onto It As Well

David Kippin wants to tackle the overall issue of parking around the city but was also besotted with Strand parking.  Surprisingly, he had the the wit to link it to a much broader and concerning issue, calling for an overall review of council parking policy.   He’s under pressure from the Chamber – he’s the business lobby’s  dog in this fight – to back their calls for free parking in the CBD … about the only option left to be of real assistance to the struggling area.  But any review that disagreed with his call for change would leave him weasel way out  of flipping, saying ‘I tried’.

BUT he revealed  something most of us did not know, most certainly The ‘Pie didn’t.  He called for a disclosure around costs around the cancelled meter expansion onto the Strand and other areas like Palmer Street.  The Kipper indicating council bureaucrats had started preliminary physical work on the installation in apparent  secrecy .  But he posed with this pic on the southside purportedly showing where some of that  preliminary work had been jackhammered, stopped and repaired after the outcry.

The middle of a footpath seems a funny place to put parking meters, but maybe it was temporary wiring works. Or not.  Or maybe The Kipper’s advisor Max Tomlinson had just had a public whoopsie.

As for the other galoot in the round-up, Sean Gleeson, he’s just in it for the nuisance value, but apparently has plenty of time on his hands, since the Bulletin reports

One wonders if that experience in hospitality was this bit of bio info on Linkedin under the name Sean Gleeson.

Ironically, going by recent history,  that seems to make him ideal mayoral material.

It will be interesting to see if the Bulletin can come up with some questions about subjects we actually want to know about.  Maybe the ABC can make one of its occasional forays into investigative reporting.

Polite Question 

“Commercial in confidence” refers to sensitive commercial information that parties agree to keep confidential to protect business interests. This typically includes details like pricing, profits, and proprietary information, and it is legally protected through clauses in contracts like Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs). The goal is to prevent disclosure that could harm a party’s business, market position, or competitive edge. 

The  rules regarding Commercial in Confidence are very much a flexible and often abused government and business tool, but on paper they are straightforward and when used with integrity, are fair enough.  But they come with one major flaw. Just who decides what may be adversely affected by disclosure? And btw, one legit reason for CinC is to protect intellectual property, so it’s safe to say this doesn’t apply to anything to do with this council executive.

The ‘Pie asks this, because here is the real question: why was this matter discussed behind closed doors? Why are we not entitled to know firstly why there needed to be an exemption (all the more reason for this to be out in the public), and why are we not entitled to know who is providing services we pay for? Jenny ‘Mayor Mullet’ Hill was a past master in trotting out CinC on the most transparently unqualified matters,  particularly around dodgy financial matters  But wait, hasn’t everyone agreed that with her departure, we have travelled into the sunlit uplands of transparency and accountability?

Like fuck we have.

This will be added to the questions to candidates we are putting together.

And About That …

Given the not totally unexpected out-of-touch start to the mayoral campaign, The ‘Pie has decided to delay finalising the questions to be put to all candidates by email. We have plenty of time, and thank you, all of your helpful, sometimes funny sometimes balmy, sometime bullseye suggestions have been collated and are being refined down.  A bit more time will allow us to perhaps include glaring questions the Bulletin is sure not to ask. Keep an eye out and sent anything noted to comments.

From Comments On Monday.

DOLAN HAYES TO THE RESCUE. CLASSIC!!!!

Hahahaha, you can take the boy out of Townsville, but you can’t the boy out of Townsville affairs.

This story has all the hallmarks, the classic stamp of Dolan Hayes canny professionalism all over it …. The uncertainty of an mayoral election, unrest about jobs and progress, and even a welcome swipe at council bureaucracy. And anything to help a pissed-off mate and former business partner. Focus Pacific’s director Michael Graham is a long standing chum and former business associate of the now Brisbane-based lobbyist and backroom boy Hayes.

Mr Hayes … sorry, Mr Graham argues that the last minute pin-pull of the on the on again- off again, constantly down-sized project was all because of some faceless bastards at the council cooked up a story that he’d missed too many paperwork deadlines.

Which is as it may be , but Mr Hay … Graham unwisely says in the story “I remember Troy Thompson and Ann-Maree Greaney accepted our invitation to attend a soil turning ceremony, but two days before they cancelled,” Mr Graham said.

So two of the most unfancied – make that least desirable – candidates get a tick from Mr Graham?

And the Astonisher follows that up with this later in the story:
‘On Friday, October 10, Troy Thompson posted on his Facebook page about the lost Hilton hotel.
“When opportunity knocked, our own council fumbled it,” Mr Thompson said.
“Council refused to negotiate or grant extensions, despite the developer’s readiness to proceed.”

Maybe five years of chopping, changing and dicking the council around, with all decisions being made off-shore,  had something to do with it, but that’s not how dog whistling lobbying works.

Nowadays, Mr Hayes is deep into state matters, and remains a Crisafulli friend despite being a solid Labor man, so we await the premier’s boy in the mayoral race, Nick Dametto, to suddenly find this a worthy project suitable for rejuvenation.

Gotta love this town.

Any Flucking Questions?

Listening to the bullshit about the proposed Cluden water park cum hotel complex, The ‘Pie is reminded of the old joke about the Japanese pilot in WW11 who was inadvertently drafted into a kamikaze squadron. He wasn’t aware of the mistake until the briefing explained in detail what lay ahead for his last flight.  At the end of the briefing , the officer asked if there were any questions. All was silent until the shocked and confused newcomer stood and said  ‘Any flucking questions?!?’ (Better said than written, but you get the idea).

Well,  The ‘Pie isn’t suicidal but, boy does he have some flucking questions about this you beaut water park and the paper’s reporting of it.

The old bird was dismayed when not one single councillor  (shame on you, Robbo, Suzy) or the acting mayor (or subsequently the Bulletin) thought to politely ask: where is the $550million for this venture coming from? That’s $550 fucking million, folks.

C’mon.

From a ex-footy player from Ayr whose business claims don’t go anywhere near matching the simplest research, which make him sound like he’s had more head knocks that Troy Thompson? And more disgracefully, the paper didn’t have the tiniest tinkling bell suggesting a bit of a look at available background evidence might be a good idea. Oh, well, let’s face it, the reporter was Leighton Smith.

So The Magpie will, as usual, do the Bulletin’s job for it, because it has  again been selling false hope for a cheap headline and (it hopes) readership, all through sheer laziness. Because if they looked into the following, it may well turn out to be a much better story than honeyed words and unsupported assurances of ‘she’ll be right.’

Of course, all of us in Townsville would love to have a water park, why wouldn’t we,  always have, but what we don’t need is another half-arsed chancer developer yet again causing community despondency when grandiose blather turns to bitter ashes. We don’t deserve it.

So first, the Mexican restaurant franchisee turned developer Shaun McCarthy.  Now Mr McCarthy, you will no doubt be reading this (probably at the behest of a misguided lawyer), The ‘Pie does not know you,  and bears you no personal ill will, and is just working on available information which you are at liberty to correct on this blog.

You have claimed (or at the very least, have not refuted) in the Bulletin and on another site (we’ll get to it in a moment) that you have opened 56 restaurants in Queensland and 26 in Ireland.  Any timeline on this unbelievable (and I mean un-bloody-believable) claim is not available, but christ, man, you must’ve been a juvenile genius,  because guess where you’ve been for the past 14 years.

But let’s be generous here, and suppose your claim of ‘opening’ 56 restaurants in Queensland  are just franchises … well that’s some feat in itself, even if you just rocked up with the keys on behalf of franchise owner, because Zambrero only have 59 Queensland outlets.  ‘Opened’ is very different to founding, owning or operating, so mate, if it sounds like bullshit … you know the rest. And 26 in Ireland? Now that is interesting. When were you there, because according to your Linkedin bio,  you were busy giving the squitters to  a Townsville clientele. (Was that the one in Flinders Street that under recently?)  But it seems you rugby players have a thing about Zambrero, although it can’t be the 26 in Ireland you claim, because we just came across this – from August last year.

Maybe Darragh was a team mate and you got the idea for a Zambrero story from him … along with a good dose of his Irish blarney. Shaun, by all appearances (including some of your own incredible words – 35 chefs indeed!) you got out of the Anelay venture by the skin of your teeth. You certainly didn’t get out with $550m.

Which brings us to this gentleman, one Neville Smith, of the commercial real estate crowd Burgess Rawson.

Just what he’s got to do with this isn’t clear, but Mr Smith penned a pants wetting article about the proposed water park in the industry magazine  The Hotel Conversation (which includes Mr McCarthy’s restaurant claims). It’s a gusher big enough to be  a water park feature. itself

Mr Smith is the head of the Townsville office of Burgess Rawson, which describes itself as ‘one of Australia’s leading property agencies and is full service agency, we sell, value, lease and manage commercial and residential investment assets for a large private investor community. ‘ Ah, so you’ve got some money tied in, a few lazy hundreds of millions from a magic investor?  Did they stump up the not inconsiderable cost of getting approval through council … and this is, remember, only a preliminary approval, for a major development in the troubled sewerage corridor that takes in JCU, the TU hospital,  Lavarack Barracks,  and the nearby Fairfield shopping mall.  Mr McCarthy, your breezy assurances of ‘no worries, she’ll be jake’ to the council are far from convincing.  But if that is the case, and all is … shall we say, … watertight,  The ‘Pie humbly apologises for asking so many questions.

Still, The ‘Pie is happy that he doesn’t live in Wulguru.

By the way, how are things progressing with the Turf Club, owners of the proposed site? At last report, they still own it, and no indications that a sale is imminent.

But For Their Age, Sterilisation Would Be Justified

If the Bonking Beetroot started humping Hanson,  and offspring arrived, the outcome would be inevitable.

Fortunately, that possibility is , well … inconceivable.

Just As Well The DMR Aren’t Bank Robbers ….

… they’d be like a Carry On comedy.

Paluma residents are still enjoying travel restrictions as seemingly never-ending work to repair the weather damaged (10months ago) Mt Spec road, but they were even less amused recently . It seems the DMR contractors  were recently  confronted with a rock in a hard place – this one, in fact.

Yup, a bloody big un from the Dreamtime.  After half a dozen hi-vized blokes stood around for a couple of days weighing up their options, it was decided that crowbars wouldn’t do the job (‘Bugger that, Neville, me back’s already crook, let’s blow the fucker up.)  So the DMR’s award winning PR team (don’t ask what award, please) advised Paluma residents that they wouldn’t be able to use the road between Friday 17 just gone and tomorrow Monday 20.  So Paluma residents , a stiff upper lip lot by now,  rearranged social plans,  including a large district social gathering in the Paluma Hall, and weekend shopping trips.    DMR crews were assembled, safety blokes with lollipop paddles were lined up,  the essential mobile canteen moved a safe distance away, and they were all set.

‘OK, all looks safe and ready. Lug that bloody dynamite up here, Nev, we’ll pack it around the base.’

“Dynamite? What bloody dynamite, Cyril? That’s not my job, bloody dangerous, that stuff.  Mick’s supposed handle that side of things.”

‘Yeah, but Mick’s off sick with that blonde up at Cairns HQ. You were told to get it instead.’

Was not.’

“Were too.’  And so forth

So the day before the supposed closure, Paluma residents received this.

And it just so happens that the large social gathering was rescheduked for … you guessed it …  November 1.

The One Brilliant Success That Benjamin Netanyahu And Trump Don’t Want To Claim … But It’s Theirs Alright

What is happening right now is just a small pause in what has been happening for 2000+ years,  and there is the logic of bitter experience in believing peace is nowhere in sight. The reason is that for the past two years or more, Benjamin Netanyahu, with Trump’s acquiescence, has conducted one of the most successful Hamas and terrorist group recruiting  campaigns ever, to promote further generational warfare.  It’s been the ultimate radicalisation.  And not just among Palestinians and other intractable groupings of the region.  Ironically,  Netanyahu’s relentless genocidal campaign, so resembling a Nazi strategy,  has given energy to extreme right wing groups around the world, most of whom are antisemitic.

And strutting through all is the cartoon figure of Trump,  claiming he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize.

Wonder If We’ll Get Something Like This During Our Election Campaign

A couple of councillors have already shown they are getting savvy with social media to push their arguments, so wonder if we’l start getting ‘messaging’ like this, from New York mayoral front runner and maverick Zohran Mamdani.  

…………….

Well, we’re off and running, The ‘Pie will do his best to keep up with things, keep an eye out for any developments in comments.  Donate button to help out with Nest costs is below.