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Ruby-faced Gladys

By John Haly

Poor old gullible Gladys #koalakiller Berejiklian has all the emotional desires, so many of us have, and the demands of a taxing job that exacerbates her needs. She has always known she might have a lot to deal with, which explains why she has consolidated so many public departments. She just had to silence so many disparate voices making weekly demands of her, to lessen her obligations so that she could focus on matters of the heart. I mean, how many of us have not made the perfect choice of partners, that in later years reflectively ask, “WTF was I thinking?” Give her a break; it was a one-off mistake. “Princess” Gladys’s ruby complexion is a reflection of her private embarrassment. Her handling of public matters, although, has been exemplary – according to her liberal colleagues. I mean, it’s not like she makes a lot of mistakes as a public servant.

So she spent too much money on ferries built overseas with asbestos and too tall to fit under bridges in Parramatta River. But who could have predicted that? So her trains don’t fit the rail lines or go through the tunnels in the Blue Mountains. But who else could have built those trains? Bejesus, who goes to those places by ferry or train anyhow! So she allowed state forests to be logged and Koala habitats to be destroyed. So she approved the expansion of a quarry in the Hunter which will eliminate 52 hectares of prime koala habitat. So she asserted that those lazy public service bludgers (aka “essential workers“) were not worthy of a mere 2.5% wage rise during a recession. Besides the coffers were depleted after the extravagant pay rises awarded to all 65 coalition politicians in Macquarie St earlier in 2019. Still, some public servants were rewarded, such as the $87K rise to our Police Commissioner. You know him, Mick, the fellow who defended the laws Gladys brought in to strip search our kids. A sentiment echoed by the NSW Police Minister, David Elliott.

She is so good with money, though. She got one million dollars for Vales Point Station. Not her fault that it was valued at $730M. Yeah, OK, there were a couple of over-runs. I mean, who doesn’t overrun a budget on the light rail by $3B and Stadiums by $100M Sadly the modern revamp to replace that old “dump” of a Museum at Ultimo which they were very keen to give to their donor property developers, will be retained after protests by all those caffe-latte-drinking leftist protestors. Moving the Powerhouse Museum to a flood plain was a mistake anyone could make when it was such a dry season, that bushfires were all the rage.

Speaking of the worst bushfires in NSW, wasn’t that a confusing time? Not helped by allegations that Gladys refused assistance by the Navy for fire-threatened south coast towns. Berejiklian pulled up short of suggesting our honourable prime minister was lying. Eliminating public service bloat is important – achieved by cutting rural fire service capital expenditure by 75% ($49.9M). These were efficiency dividends, and besides, they still had 25% of their funds. Such unneeded bloat was presumably why she needed to get rid of 26 out of the 36 specialist fire management officers responsible for doing hazard reduction? Ten officers are more than enough for a State area of over 80M hectares. Slashing 500 full-time positions from National Parks and Wildlife was just being economically rational, surely? She was just clearing the bush her own way, and who could have predicted climate change would result in more significant fires? Probably why she thought cutting $12.9M from the state’s Urban fire fighting budget was an act of foresight.

 

Blackened Home of Ash

 

Think of all the generous help she gave the federal government and irrigators by supporting the water trading of the Murray Darling Water Plan designed in 2012 whose Authority acted unlawfully when it “completely ignored” climate change projections for the determination of water allocations. Gladys did later begin to recant by considering new water-sharing plans for the Namoi River and water registries. This didn’t include the water registries of Helen Dalton’s Bill which would have listed MP’s water interests. That unsuitable Bill was allowed to lapse. Unlike the Broken Hill pipeline or profitable fracking at Narrabri that threatened water security, as they’d already been approved and one doesn’t want to antagonise donors by reversing decisions! So country towns in NSW ran out of water, Warragamba Dam got polluted, and we had to resort to the desalination plant in Kurnell that relies heavily on fossil fuels to run, making Sydney resident’s water bills to rise. Gladys Berejiklian’s degrees were in Arts and Commerce, so it is unfair to expect her to understand climate science and the causality of events that lead to droughts. It is no wonder she refused to meet with representatives of the Menindee Lakes. I mean, what did they expect her to do, raise the fish from the dead? Folks just expect too much from our Premiers who are far too busy meeting reputable donors or partaking in $950/ticket luncheons (a price just under the $1K disclosure guidelines) with dignitaries.

Westconnex Protest issues list

Gladys is good for business. She is raising so much money for her donors from the public and transport industry, via Sydney’s nine toll roads with a locked-in 4% rise in tolls per year till 2060. That donor, Transurban (Westconnex), may have struggled with the planning to get NSW’s road infrastructure built, but Berejiklian’s support did not waver. She not only supports her generous donor, but her ongoing support to the legal industry has been commendable. NSW will be tied up in litigation for decades because of the compulsory acquisitions of houses and the structural damages to still-standing homes wrought by Westconnex’s construction activity.

Let’s not forget the prescience she exhibited when she hired Aspen Medical (whose director hid $15M in the British Virgin Islands) for $57m for COVID-19 work in Newmarch House (which had 19 Aged Care deaths) and for that lovely cruise ship, the Ruby Princess! She seeks out the “best quality” advice when she needs it. But these errors are past us, and now our business-focused Premier has this COVID-19 infection all under control, almost!

The implications of corruption implicit in this ICAC investigation are over the top, surely? It’s not like someone gave Gladys a bottle of Grange Hermitage that she forgot. Although memory failures featured significantly in her testimony to ICAC, but then who needs an excellent memory to run a State? It’s not like she was accustomed to maintaining a detailed memory with “meticulous focus on every minor policy detail“.

I mean has the shock, horror, scandal news rags of Murdoch said anything critical of Gladys other than she had been “falling for a bloke called Daryl? Of course not, so honestly, there isn’t anything to be seen here. Just move along and don’t forget to vote them back in, on March 2023! Besides, who will remember any of her government’s small foibles by then?

Fine wines & good times.

 

This article was originally published on Australia Awaken – Ignite your Torches.

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19 comments

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  1. Robin Alexander

    Such a long account of all History of our esteemed Premier? Thank you had no idea of many things on this long list!amazing can see all that slip by probably lost count herself of all that has been wrong bad judgements for NSW so much its unaccountable the amounts? We the public truly accept or pull wool over their eyes? Thanks for info! Rather stunned myself!

  2. Jon Chesterson

    AM I OVER IT?

    It’s not as if Gladys is corrupt, a liar and a cheat, because she says ‘I don’t need to know’, believing this to absolve her of any public responsibility of office and leadership. Think of all the things she did know and the things she has done – Listed right here in this article.

    Want to know the truth behind the one who insists she has done no wrong, who twists the truth behind her fake innocent mask, and only outshone by the deception and corruption of her Federal masters and mentors, for they re-wrote the book on it and turned it into political slogans with greater force and influence than the bible. Hell, Morrison has practically incinerated all that was good in Australia with his fiery breath and putrid grin, take a look at the wreckage to State, society, humanity, the economy, the national debt he has left behind, and for what – For a hatred of all things social, just and fair, for the lining of his own pockets, the Liberals, the wealthy elite, the banks and corporates he protects who have made billions of dollars profit throughout the bush fires and the pandemic, while most Australians and most of Australia suffer a slow agonising death.

    But we have seen his tale of destruction coming for a long time, the truth he screams because he says so, because the Murdoch press, the great media monopoly in the sky spreads the same dark wings of misinformation and despair as he does, brutally unchallenged. But Gladys, her tale has not been properly told till now, look no further than this article, which puts the record clear before Australian eyes.

    People of NSW – this is the person and the party you keep voting for, the very same story we have suffered nationally from Morrison, Turnbull, Abbott and Howard – Yes, for far too long – Written from the same book, just a different revelation. These are the things Gladys and her corrupt party, her government have given to the people of NSW – Not just fire and brimstone, not just Covid-19, for she gave that to the whole of Australia via the Ruby Princess and a dozen other cruise ships and travellers through the port of Kingsford Smith and hotel quarantine we never heard about. That is just the last few months, a tip of the iceberg we will be facing.

    Is it time for Gladys to go? But don’t just think of Gladys – the whole bloody lot of them, no ICAC is going to save us – Chronicled here and we can see why. And when you are done, ask yourself, has she done anything wrong? Have they?

    Am I over it? Not bloody likely, how can we?

  3. Lynette Faragher

    Terrifying chronicle and a timely reminder. Thank you.

  4. New England Cocky

    Your gentle style identifying all the wonderful ”achievements” of the Glady-back-flip-I-can COALiiton misgovernment is awesome because I find myself seething in anger when I read the article.

    Such a talented lady having such good advice from her Ministers for Self-Service and political entrepreneurial activity deserves everything she gets from Australian voters who have been deceived, down-trodden and abandoned by this elitist borne-to-rule bunch of avaricious grafters exploiting the too lax laws governing the actions and accountability of politicians.

    But it has been a self-inflicted wound and only Australian voters can reverse this rush to becomes the worst third world export economyin the OECD.

  5. Henry Rodrigues

    This is the true picture of the lovely Gladys, all the warts and boils and bumps, more clearly defined than any actual photograph can. Her backers like Summo, and the rest of her parliamentary collegues, all swearing to give their last drop of blood and credibility, to protect their Gladys from the ‘unfair’ assertions and attacks from ordinary citizens. Oh by the way, where are Murdoch’s enterprising journos, why aren’t they querying Gladys ? Ah yes, They’re too busy trying to bring Dan Andrews down.

    On the Drum yesterday, up popped that disgusting creature, Cate Carnell, extolling the virtues of ‘good governance’ by Gladys and brushing aside all criticism of her personal behaviour, as if the two are mutually exclusive. Couldn’t they find anyone with more credibility than that washed up old bludger, Carnell ?

    The people of NSW can now see what they voted for, an LNP government that corrupt to the core.

  6. LambsFry Simplex.

    Interesting to read this morning that- guess who- has been mentioned a s a party to matters involving meetings with Louse Porterhouse and McGuire.

    Yep.

    Angus Taylor.

  7. Harry Lime

    Angus’bucket mouth’ Taylor,if there’s a public dollar to be purloined,he can smell it from 1000 miles away.Gladys Binchicken is bad enough, but most of her feral (sic) counterparts are worse.Our country is well and truly in the grip of besuited,greedy,corrupt and incompetent fuckwits,and at the helm is the worst of all,the Liar from the Shire,third rate sideshow barker,world’s most egregious hypocrite.Fuck Morrison,fuck Trump and fuck Johnson.

  8. Henry Rodrigues

    Yes Harry, Scummo, Trump and Johnson, a trio of fuckwits.

  9. Jamie

    DANG STRAIGHT JON CHESTERSON!! DANG STRAIGHT!!! NAILED IT AS DID JOHN HALY!!!

    “The forest was shrinking but the trees kept voting for the axe, for the axe was ‘clever’ and convinced the trees that because his handle was made of wood, he was one of them.”

    Turkish Proverb

  10. Jack sprat

    Daryl maquire admitted that he was a people smuggler for profit. Sneaking people out of china (possible communists ) to Australia under the guise of work visas for non exciting jobs .Why then have not The Feds , ASIO or the Border force raided his house and jailed him . Is not people smuggling a crime in this country ?

  11. calculus witherspoon.

    It is not (?) illegal to sm(n?) uggle Au Pairs…

  12. wam

    The extent of her skill is having a six year closet shagger and no leaks?
    I remember(not very well but) the end of a yes minister show when hacker asks a question and humphrey looks as quizzical as he can be and intones ‘do you really want me to answer? hacker thinks and says no humphrey perhaps there is no need to know.
    The ultimate ignorance is afforded lawyers work on lying as long as they can avoid being informed otherwise. The profession is nominally avoiding judgement but the pricks keep becoming judges to themselves when they are well and truly corrupted by experience.
    ps
    jack he flew them in no boats no crime

  13. New England Cocky

    @Jack sprat: An excellent point with endless possibilities limited only by imagination.

    For example, was this Maguire People Smuggling Scheme an attempt branch stack Wagga Wagga and other Nazional$ Party seats by boosting the paper membership of the numerically declining branches to ensure the re-election of chronically unsuitable incumbents while simultaneously protecting those same electorates against potential Liarbral Party expansion into more regional electorates that the self-serving Nazional$ believe are their personal birth-right bailiwicks??

    Or conspiracy anyone?? How about some reader coming up with the “Dark Web Political Intrigue” of a foreign government putting in place operatives with a long term objective of having a future military force in place for a future invasion???

  14. Lambchop Simnel

    In the end, Jon Chesterton…

  15. Jack Cade

    Jack Sprat

    Nobody has really answered your question, so I will. The ‘authorities’ you mention have no mandate to investigate L-NP MPs, members, or camp followers. Only people that L-NP MPs, members or camp followers dislike, or fear.
    To quote an ad I absolutely loathe…
    Simples.

  16. wam

    I am embarrassed jack cade there are hundreds of importers by plane and it is no crime.
    This is part of a letter to the editor I wrote when the rabbott and robberson were hastily signing FTA willy nilly(a good description of the rabbott as the new definition is impotent)
    “Do you trust an FTA that allows China to keep tariffs till 2024 and Australia till 2015. Do you think you will remember or care about these incidents by the election? Does it bother you that the clp has leased the port to the Chinese? Do you know any tradie with these qualifications -Automotive Electrician, Cabinetmaker, Carpenter and Joiner, Diesel Motor Mechanic, Electrician, Motor and Motorcycle Mechanic? Any of the 1.5 billion chinese has access to a two year visa without any skill testing or direct testingof the Aust labour market”
    His crime is accepting bribes and if he can hide six years of banging the boss a little visa rort is nothing ‘really’ criminal. and easily private.
    A little suss because some agents have been stung but they are behind paywalls.

  17. Lambchop Simnel

    What sly, disturbing things, these FTA’s … they are absolutely devoted to bypassing locales and communities and the needs of people within them in the interests of nameless anonymous crooks.

    They are Orwellian bullshit.

  18. bob whitelaw

    Like Doctors Who Bury Their Mistakes ! Politicians Try Also .

  19. Alan McGregor

    Why then did the Coalition get voted in again – a third time? Is the voting rigged?

    Two items weren’t mentioned. Using $1Billion of taxpayer’s money to rip up 3km of railway infrastructure in Newcastle, and place just over 3km of light rail on Hunter Street – alongside the old line. And the reason was….to ‘open up’ the Newcastle foreshore?

    Everyone on Australia should be aware of where their taxes go – not just their local area.

    Right now, a well-hidden secret has been going on for decades. Australia’s third most visited region, adjacent to Australia’s fastest growing region of South East Queensland. i.e. the Northern Rivers has been having its railways continually cut, downgraded and closed mainly since the Coalition Greiner days. From 1990, we lost our human rights to appropriate and independent public transport.

    24% are now regarded as having disabilities, as able youth leave for better access to education and work etc. We have high unemployment and the highest ages perhaps in the state. Lismore City, the supposed ‘heart’ of the region is very bankrupted. And yet, the councillors can’t see that being cut off from the world is causing these problems.

    Car drivers here have no concept of public transport now. We have the highest mental health problems outside of Sydney. Many on anti-depressants cannot function. Psychopaths take control of everything – even Extinction Rebellion. Environment groups abound, but there’s not one group or advocate for human rights.

    It’s still fine that we have apartheid bus transport separating young schoolies from older folks – who get their separate ‘bus outings’. People with disabilities just compete, “Indigenous have their transport”. Lismore’s SCU [university] told students to go online – before Covid appeared.

    A lot of us have had 30 Years of lockdown. And all people may see in Sydney is both houses of NSW parliament say that we were ‘consulted’ about rail trails, and have no objection of the railway line being ripped up for dubious elite cyclists [retired business people and ex-councillors] – and during our drought and fires?

    I’m going blind and with life-threatening illness, and having difficulty finding appropriate medical treatment for years. Locals wonder why we want to go to Lismore, Brisbane, or the beach – as we used to by rail before 1990. Youth now think kayaking is public transport. We are going so backward. I’d just escaped the Bjelke-Peterson regime – and moved into an Orwellian nightmare.

    Call a NSW department “Transport for the Future” when Andrew Constance openly declares that they are ‘divesting themselves’ of all our public assets. We voted in a 1967 referendum to seceded from the ridiculously named New South Wales. 22 coucils and 70% of us voted to secede – because we have to escape the Sydney-based corruption.

    Bentley, where both the Coalition and Labor want to allow CSG mining – is on the Murwillumbah railway branch line – that Labor closed in 2004 – because we were too poor to pay full price on the trains!

    If we can’t vote for Greens, because their also corrupted, we have to have some new parties that doesn’t allow in these psychopaths – who play with fossil fuel and road-based corporations, and neglect everyone else but a few friends.

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