Teatowel McGowan off the radar

Posted on January 9, 2017 by AHC McDonald

Having the car washed this morning, and read a copy of the West for free. Haven’t really looked at it for a while. How embarrassingly insubstantial it has become. But, more importantly, only days away from the state election how is it possible that Mark The Slightly Damp Teatowel McGowan barely gets a mention in the pamphlet? He gets one line in the editorial, and an excruciatingly bad cartoon. Somehow they have managed to get a cartoonist even worse than Alston (who also doesn’t know the difference between Kahunas and Cojones), but even so, where is the fucking Teatowel in the news? Does he not have a media advisor? Despite all the incompetences of the Barnett government, The Towel is a real chance of losing the election! Alannah got more coverage today than TSDTT. Numbskulls like Gary Gray and Dennis Jensen got more coverage today. When is the damp squib going to start his campaign?mcg

About AHC McDonald

Comedian, artist, photographer and critic. From 2007 to 2017 ran the culture and satire site The Worst of Perth
This entry was posted in worst of perth, worst politician and tagged , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

391 Responses to Teatowel McGowan off the radar

  1. Russell Woolf's Lovechild says:
    January 9, 2017 at 11:06 am

    ALPBC 7pm TV news were doing their bit to help. They ran Sneakers set-piece policy re-hashes as either the first or second item on consecutive days. Doing their bit to help. I would advise him to lose Quigley in the background of these things. He just looks creepy and distracting.

    Not sure we are days away from an election. Anything up till Australia Day is probably lost on the masses – including me. Lord Waffleworth and the Turnbull Coalition Team outstanding success should have killed long election campaigns for the foreseeable future.

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  2. Joel T says:
    January 9, 2017 at 11:28 am

    Kahuna: A Hawaiian word for a wise man or shaman. Cojones: Spanish slang for testicles. Learn the difference Smithy you fkn goose.

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  3. Frank Calabrese says:
    January 9, 2017 at 11:58 am

    ALP Bashing again I see You must be on Barnett’s payroll to post such crap

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  4. Frank Calabrese says:
    January 9, 2017 at 12:04 pm

    The Worst Of Perth aka Liberal Party Bootstrapping FRAUDS

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  5. Frank Calabrese says:
    January 9, 2017 at 1:27 pm

    As opposed to you CUNTS being played by your beloved LIEBERAL Party DUMB CUNTS

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  6. rottobloggo says:
    January 9, 2017 at 4:55 pm

    Well. THAT escalated quickly.

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  7. Zuben says:
    January 9, 2017 at 7:16 pm

    The premier is really the Queen of Beasts:

    ‘ Look over there [ Chittering Valley ] — lions and tigers and bears ! Oh my ! ‘

    Meanwhile , back at the dacha …

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  8. you'll get wet says:
    January 9, 2017 at 10:13 pm

    Buswell jokes played

    Say it ain’t so! Old genres don’t die they just sniff off into the sunset

    I hear Troy has made an offer for this collectors gem, he may yet get a sniff of Tony’s old seat

    http://collection.moadoph.gov.au/objects/2015-0335/

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  9. you'll get wet says:
    January 9, 2017 at 10:44 pm

    A friend of mine has written to Barnett imploring him to fund a new Kingsford Smith tourist trail in the Gascoyne. It would include a brothel at the old Bangemall Inn near Mt Augustus, to be managed by the parks and wildlife ranger at Cobra where Smithy used to hang it all out. I mean hang out. He envisages a giant neon structure of Dolly Parton welcoming tourists and thinks he understands Colin’s mind. He tells me he’s written to Colin more than once with similar proposals but now that he’s minister for tourism Colin may be desperate enough to reply. It’s much better than his previous proposal for an annual ww2 dogfight with Japanese zeros over Nullagine. He reckons his letters get passed around and he gets more favourable treatment than he otherwise might when applying for mining stuff. I hope I havent fucked it up for him.

    Hey Frank why don’t you wheel out Kelly? I’m sure the public would like to see what they’ll get if they vote thataways. The tv screens won’t crack. They don’t crack when saffi comes on. Well just hairline fractures. I’d like to see Dave in a monkey suit and tie, could that be arranged? Do you put him on a stool like Sarkozy?

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  10. The Lazy Aussie says:
    January 10, 2017 at 7:55 am

    Comment today. “When is Labor going to start its campaign?”

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  11. you'll get wet says:
    January 10, 2017 at 11:02 am

    The Libs do BIG shits that float like battleships. WA labour shits don’t know whether to sink or float, cling to a shark net or tread water til they get rescued. They don’t stand for anything. Ppl are starting to think they’ve sold out. Labours loony left knuckledraggers, who do stand for something, aren’t allowed to say so in case ppl don’t like what they stand for. Mcgowan’s like a Russian dolls nest. Open him up and all you get is another smaller Mcgowan to infinity. We already know the Libs don’t stand for anything. Selling out is in their mission statement. Ppl are no more or less disappointed than is normal for a mature western democracy and wa will become a one party state if McGowan doesn’t start dropping a few BIG shits before its all over. How can a serious loony like Richard Court ( but I’m still a christian too!) who hangs around with weird militarist nationalist japanese religious cults to receive their Light and blessings get appointed as ambassador to Japan?! And McGowan is too fucking timid to say boo. It’s just too weird, everyone knows it is but the wa alp couldn’t even be bothered to work up a teensy bit of a smear. Not even in the national interest. Well fuck me. There is no outrage left in wa labour. No big shits left to drop. Stands for NOTHING

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    • Frank Calabrese says:
      January 10, 2017 at 12:20 pm

      More Crap Liberal Lackey you lot are shitscared that Labor WILL win now go and rig some polls and wear your Liberal T Shirts with pride FRAUDBOY and it’s LABOR

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    • The Lazy Aussie says:
      January 10, 2017 at 12:27 pm

      I’m sure SDTT’s media adviser (poor cunt) actually tells him to say “WHERE’S THE MONEY BARNETT??!!” But what comes out is “Mumble, the last financial.mumble, community standard, waffle…

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      • Frank Calabrese says:
        January 10, 2017 at 12:36 pm

        He’s doing a better job than you are as Barnett’s Bootstrapper – no wonder you/re shitscared your Boy Barnett will LOSE

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  12. Orbea says:
    January 10, 2017 at 7:32 pm

    Smithy looks on the West as a promotion. Fuck it must be bad at the Post

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  13. Frank Calabrese says:
    January 10, 2017 at 7:39 pm

    Can’t believe the Libs have employed you lot to run their Campaign no wonder they’re scared of losing

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  14. JaneZ says:
    January 10, 2017 at 8:06 pm

    I liked it better when he was a font of knowledge about Telethon hosts thru the ages.

    Liked by 2 people

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  15. Frank Calabrese says:
    January 10, 2017 at 9:36 pm

    Post edited for clarity.
    Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.

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    • The Lazy Aussie says:
      January 10, 2017 at 9:44 pm

      Why don’t you tell us how mark has improved since you called him “Labor’s worst performer.”
      Give me something positive. No dicks or Pedos, something positive v

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      • Frank Calabrese says:
        January 10, 2017 at 9:48 pm

        Xxxxxxxx. That didn’t answer the question Frank.
        I specifically want you to tell us how mark has improved since you labelled him labors worst performer.

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        • The Lazy Aussie says:
          January 10, 2017 at 10:49 pm

          Frank, is your internet down? Surely not silence? I really want to hear your answer to. How has Mark McGowan improved since you labelled him labors worst performer?
          No dicks or pedos, or ranting. How has he improved?

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          • Russell Woolf's Lovechild says:
            January 11, 2017 at 6:45 am

            Eric Ripper retired. That’s a start.

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          • Sir Bill International says:
            January 11, 2017 at 8:20 am

            Well with crickets from Frank I’ll step up to the crease.Remember its a two horse race with one of them an old , sad nag with tendencies towards biting people. Where would they put their best foot forward ? Their personal website of course : from McGowan’s
            “He was Parliamentary Secretary to former Premier Geoff Gallop for four years and has served as a Minister in the portfolios of Education and Training, Environment, Racing and Gaming, Tourism and South West.
            As the Minister for Racing and Gaming, Mark drove the small bar reforms which have liberalised Perth’s entertainment scene, while as Minister for Tourism, he boosted Western Australia’s tourism industry by negotiating to bring low-cost carrier Jetstar to Perth. As Education Minister, Mark got back to basics and brought in major curriculum changes including more exams, traditional marking and reports, and reintroduced the syllabus.
            In recent years, Mark has served as Manager of Opposition Business, as well as Shadow Minister for State Development; and Planning and Housing.”
            Compare and contrast with http://www.colinbarnett.net.au/about-colin.html
            If you can ignore the waffle , and the dribble about that pseudoscience , economics,(the religion of the rich), it would reduce it down to a paragraph. i can’t be bothered. Compare their achievements in the Education portfolio, neither of which polictician have a clue about.

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            • The Lazy Aussie says:
              January 11, 2017 at 8:22 am

              Well this is more like it. Although much of this was during the time when he was worst performing.

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              • Frank Calabrese says:
                January 11, 2017 at 8:39 am

                And proof you’re still a Liberal Shill when one of your Acolytes defends Mark you still attack him – Now go away and doorknock for Barnett and put your Liberal Corflutes out

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                • Sir Bill International says:
                  January 11, 2017 at 9:15 am

                  Just a point here Frank , politicians are not gods to be worshipped dog like. They are very fallible human beings only made to look good by an army of people working behind them.

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                  • Frank Calabrese says:
                    January 11, 2017 at 9:22 am

                    Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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                  • you'll get wet says:
                    January 11, 2017 at 1:28 pm

                    I think you meant politicians are not dogs to be horsewhipped like gods.

                    Having once worked for the bastards I can categorically state that they are bastards. Just because the smaller bastards in Perth aren’t as big as the bigger bastards in Canberra doesn’t mean they’re not bastards. As any bastard who has worked for the bastards will attest.

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                    • Sir Bill International says:
                      January 12, 2017 at 7:59 am

                      An interesting point, You”ll Get Wet. Is bastardry an essential element of being an effective politician ? There doesn’t seem any logical neccessity for it to be so ,but …………

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                    • you'll get wet says:
                      January 12, 2017 at 2:42 pm

                      Sir Bill.

                      The bastards can be effective ineffective and defective but they’re still bastards and should be dogwhipped like horses long hard and often. Contrary to the narrative pushed by a media elite that cohabits and often breeds with them, they are not essentially good people who nobly wish to serve others for the greater good and so on and so forth.

                      A typical list of their priorities looks like

                      1.Me
                      2.Those in the Party who support Me
                      3 –
                      4 –
                      5 –
                      100000 – The National Interest

                      example of defective bastard

                      I work on the Sloop S.Ley
                      My parliamentary rorters and me
                      All around the Gold Coast we did rort,
                      Sheriff Mal.T
                      You gonna crucify me
                      I feel so rorting, I just wanna buy homes

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                    • The Lazy Aussie says:
                      January 12, 2017 at 2:43 pm

                      I had a lovely chat with Tim Hammond if that helps.

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              • Russell Woolf's Lovechild says:
                January 12, 2017 at 2:54 pm

                That’s nice.

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          • Frank Calabrese says:
            January 11, 2017 at 8:51 am

            ALP Website and Facebook do your own research. Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx
            Xxxxxxx

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        • Frank Calabrese says:
          January 11, 2017 at 8:47 am

          I did answer it – xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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  16. Frank Calabrese says:
    January 10, 2017 at 9:45 pm

    Frank I’m going to insist you answer the question.

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  17. Orbea says:
    January 11, 2017 at 9:44 am

    This is awesome

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  18. Rolly says:
    January 12, 2017 at 8:30 am

    Either someone has hacked poor Frank’s computor, or someone’s computor has hacked Frank.
    It’s a little difficult to tell.

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  19. The Lazy Aussie says:
    January 12, 2017 at 10:38 am

    Policy detail, from longstanding issues such as Roe 8, to agile and immediate responses to local issues such as the Guildford Road widening, provide a devastating counterpoint to the chaos of the Barnett Government. Mr McGowan is a leader whose time has come.

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  20. Zuben says:
    January 17, 2017 at 10:38 am

    Could frank calabrese be right about labor winning the next election ?

    God i hope so !

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  21. MyNing says:
    January 18, 2017 at 8:54 am

    THE SECRET LIFE OF MARK McGOWAN, AGED ALMOST 50
    Tuesday, January 17: Not a good day for me when it came to media coverage in the local rag. The front page mentioned the lisping Brendon Grylls and his iron ore tax. The front page! This was despite the fact me and my media team had worked tirelessly over the weekend on a press release about our election promise to standardise all of the bollards in WA’s park reserves. We sent it to the editor on Monday morning. Why wasn’t that on the front page of the paper? In fact I didn’t get a mention until page 9, and that was in a story on uranium mining in which I wasn’t mentioned until half way through – and even then it was a fleeting mention. We need to lift my profile. The election is, after all, less than two months away. I know – I’ll make a list of all the achievements I’ve clocked up since entering state parliament 21 years ago. As I put fingers to key board, I got distracted by the fact that Gary Adshead, in an op ed in The Worst on page 12, stole my thunder when he wrote: “The Barnett Government has wrecked the state’s finances and overseen rising unemployment, so how can it pretend to have a solution or be trusted to with four more years in office.” It’s all true, but I was going to say this during the next stop on my 59 electorate tour. Dear ‘O dear. I looked back at the blank screen that was soon going to be full of all my achievements since entering parliament 21 years ago. But then I started thinking about page 12. There was Mr Barnett in a picture with the Fringe World organisers. Why wasn’t there a photo of me promoting the arts? I like the arts – in fact I take the arts very seriously, just as I take Roe 8 seriously. Very seriously. Even Lisa Harvey got her pic in there in a story about her future leadership, but there was nothing about me and my current readership. I must really get my media team to look into this. In the meantime I had to get my list of achievements since entering parliament 21 years ago in order. My mind started going back over the glory days when I was distracted by page 14. Rita Saffioti had something to say about public transport, while Ben Wyatt spoke about carparks. But where were my comments. I really must talk to my media minders about this situation. I looked back at my list of achievements over 21 years. It was still empty. Come on Mark, think. What did I do as local government spokesman back in 1997 when the Court Government was proposing structural reform? Well, nothing really – I’m not sure I understood it all. Plus I remember being perpetually tired in those days. As I started to look back at my diaries when I was the tourism minister, I thought about today’s editorial. Will Mr Barnett really commit to the Roe tunnel before the election (which is now less than two months away)? If he does, I can always rip up the contracts, just like that Labor guy did in Victoria a few years ago. That would definitely be on my list of achievements. Having come up with nothing noteworthy over the past 21 years, I typed: Will possibly rip up Roe 8 and 9 contracts once I get in office. I decided not to commit to anything, just as I’ve been doing for the past 21 years.

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  22. you'll get wet says:
    January 18, 2017 at 12:16 pm

    ‘me and my media team’

    Look Mark how many times have I told you it’s my media team and I

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  23. The atheist says:
    January 18, 2017 at 1:50 pm

    Most entertaining, thankyou all.

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  24. My Ning says:
    January 18, 2017 at 7:28 pm

    THE SECRET DIARY OF MARK McGOWAN, AGED NEARLY 50

    Wednesday, January 18: I have finally discovered what will help me keep my 4% lead in the coming state poll – netball! Mr Barnett might like to think that he is winning the photo op stakes when he gets on the front page of the paper turning another sod, but I showed him a thing or two with the election-grabbing picture in The Worst of me and some young netballers at the Kingsway Sporting Complex, where my rolled—up sleeves, no nonsense approach to shooting hoops no doubt hit a chord with the Wanneroo voters, many of whom it seems have some kind of affinity with this sport. Nevertheless I was surprised that the hack from The Worst didn’t report my overall netball vision – that being to build another netball hub in my seat of Rockingham, which will no doubt get the minds of those Rebels bikers off their Gucci baby clothes and onto the court where they belong. Really, I must have spoken to him for at least an hour about it, yet there wasn’t one quote from me in the story. Didn’t he see how important this is? Certainly Pauline Hanson must have got some whiff of it, because she failed to mention me personally when she went on about the “hell of a mess” WA is in. Obviously she doesn’t see me as being part of the problem, even if she said Labor wanted to spend more money and put us into more debt. Really? I put it to Ms Hanson that spending money on netball infrastructure is not a liability – it is all part of the stimulus package that me and my team (or should that be my team and I?) have put together to get more WA jobs on the table. The flow on effects from netball will be unbelievable. And speaking of those Rebels, these people have been nothing but a distraction during the past few weeks, giving everyone who comes to my 59 electorate tour the impression that Rockingham – my chosen home after my faithful service in the navy – is nothing more than a bogan heaven. Well let me tell you something – it’s not. It’s a beautiful place – it even has its own train station. Of course I had to bite my lip when I saw that Paul Murray took another swipe at me, saying I just didn’t get it when I talked about the road to nowhere. Story to nowhere more like it, Mr Murray. Honestly, who could sit through his endless waffle, quoting line after line from some Treasury paper that came out last year in the hope of building up his word count? Not me, I’ve got too many other important things to do, like accusing Mr Barnett of circumventing democracy by allowing abused children recourse to legal action sooner. “They played politics last year with these people who have been traumatised and now they are backflipping,” I said, with the vague hope that there had been some kind of backflip somewhere. As for my scheme to cut back on skilled migrants, all I can say is: (1) I’m not really playing the race card in a last ditch attempt to get some people to remember my name before they vote in less than two months (despite having been the party leader since 2012), and: (2) Why did Bill Shorten get more quotes in the story when it’s my election campaign? I didn’t need Julia Gillard to help me lose the last election, so I certainly don’t need Mr Shorten to help me lose this one.

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    • Russell Woolf's Lovechild says:
      January 19, 2017 at 7:37 am

      I think you’ll find it is an “investment” in netball, you know like an “investment” in health and education. Recurrent expenditure is so twentieth century.

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  25. you'll get wet says:
    January 18, 2017 at 9:30 pm

    Eg
    1/My media team and I have decided not to focus on jobs because the unemployed don’t know how to vote properly and even if they did they shouldn’t be allowed to
    2/my media team and I have decided not to focus on jobs because govts don’t create jobs we only set the rules for business to create jobs which is why we won’t be privatising western power
    3/my media team and I have decided not to focus on jobs because aust voters always kick out the incumbent govt during good times when only the unemployed don’t have jobs and they’re don’t belong to our unions so they don’t count anyway
    4/my media team and I have decided not to focus on jobs because – etc etc

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  26. Shreiking Wombat Ninja says:
    January 19, 2017 at 6:40 am

    Pau Murray! Is he not dead yet?

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  27. The Lazy Aussie says:
    January 19, 2017 at 1:58 pm

    I honestly think The Towel is going to lose. partly after seeing his TV ad. But I think losing is well on the cards.

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  28. you'll get wet says:
    January 19, 2017 at 4:28 pm

    ‘Pau Murray! Is he not dead yet?’

    Stokes started his replacement with Blair and Bolt, now Wilders writes the column but uses the Murray byline for continuity

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  29. My Ning says:
    January 20, 2017 at 5:52 pm

    THE SECRET DIARY OF MARK McGOWAN, AGED ALMOST 50

    As we approach this coming election, for some reason I am reminded of a lively song we used to sing during my salad days in the navy. It’s called the Quartermaster’s Store, and it goes like this:

    There was Col, Col
    Trying to top the poll
    In the store, in the store

    There was Mark, Mark
    Stumbling in the dark
    In the quartermaster’s store

    Our eyes are dim, we cannot see – we’ve sat too long and let things be
    We’ve sat too long and let things be

    There was Mike, Mike,
    Finger in the dyke
    In the store, in the store

    There was Ben, Ben
    Squawking like a hen
    In the quartermaster’s store

    Our eyes are dim, we cannot see – we’ve sat too long and let things be
    We’ve sat too long and let things be

    There was Liz, Liz
    Taking care of biz
    In the store, in the store

    There was Fran, Fran
    Slobbering like a man
    In the quartermaster’s store

    Our eyes are dim, we cannot see – we’ve sat too long and let things be
    We’ve sat too long and let things be

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  30. lass says:
    January 20, 2017 at 9:28 pm

    you had me at why the big paws :O)

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  31. you'll get wet says:
    January 21, 2017 at 6:37 pm

    There were reds reds
    Hiding under beds
    In the store in the store,
    There was Kelly Kelly
    Not allowed on telly
    In mark mcgowans store

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  32. My Ning says:
    January 22, 2017 at 9:51 am

    THE SECRET DIARY OF MARK McGOWAN, AGED NEARLY 50

    Out of the five years I have been the opposition leader (yes, it has been five – a most generous amount of time for any party to allow a dud leader to prove himself), 2015 was probably the high point. Why? Because I got my name in the press more regularly than I do now. Who could forget when I forcefully told Phoebe Wearne of The Worst: “My vision for Western Australia is this: a prosperous, vibrant, successful, caring, compassionate and fair State brimming with opportunities and confidence fir the future” (May 21, 2015). Strong stuff to be sure. And highly original to boot. Just a week earlier I was almost as forceful when I seriously told a TV camera: “The Government’s already gutted the education system. They’ve gutted the education system in a way that’s never occurred before” (as reported in The Worst on May 7, 2015). Around this time I also said, again quite forcefully I might add: “Colin Barnett has taken the best set of books in WA’s history and turned them into the worst” (The Worst, May 15, 2015). Boy they were great days – days when I could bleat about anything and get it printed. Given this, I now ask myself: What’s happened? Why is it that, at this point in time just before an election, no journalist is interested in what I’ve got to say? How is it people still don’t know who I am despite the fact I’ve been in state parliament for almost 21 years and a party leader for five. I also ask: How is it now possible that, after all of this time, it looks like I’m going to lose? I mean, really – what is going on in my press office? How is it that my big policy from those days – Metronet – seems to have vanished? Is it because Barnett has done so much roadworks that the traffic congestion seems to have eased a wee bit? And why am I arguing over a piece of road (Roe 8) that has already received federal funding? Furthermore, why is all the bad luck coming my way? After all, back in 2015 I promised that I would launch an independent inquiry into the Claremont serial killings. This was a vote winner for sure. But what happens? The fucking cops catch the bastard and steal my thunder. Of course it was nice earlier this week when I officially welcomed Bill Shorten to the campaign trial. But things went a bit sour in the back of my mind when I then remembered that he was the subject of a royal commission, and if there’s one thing WA Labor doesn’t want to be associated with it’s another royal commission. I remember back in 2014 (October 30) when The Worst’s Gareth Parker asked: “The biggest challenge is Labor’s positioning – what is Premier McGowan’s vision for the state, how is it different to what the Liberals offer. Is it digestible for broad small-c conservative middle of the electorate (as well as tolerable for the party’s left base) while still progressive enough to stop votes leaking left to the Greens?” Unfortunately I haven’t really been able to answer that one in over two years, despite the fact my position as leader has pretty much been unfettered. Nor have my media hacks come up with anything substantial, despite the fact they are paid a pretty penny by the public purse. And now we are close to crunch time again. Still, that prick Parker wasn’t entirely correct – it’s not the Greens we’re going to lose votes to, but One Nation.

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    • Frank Calabrese says:
      January 22, 2017 at 1:30 pm

      More Delusionasl Pro Liberal Gibberish – My Ning – or is that NONG Paul Murray (TWOP True Journalistic Idol) in Disguise ?

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  33. My Ning says:
    January 22, 2017 at 3:28 pm

    TWO MORE EXAMPLES OF DELUSIONAL PRO-LIBERAL RUBBISH (OR HOW ANECDOTAL EVIDENCE SUGGESTS BARNETT IS ILL-EQUIPPED TO EFFECTIVELY MANAGE ENERGY SECURITY – AN ISSUE WHICH SHOULD BE REPEATEDLY RAISED BY THE DAMP TEATOWEL)

    (1) It’s arguable that Colin Barnett’s first big blunder as a political heavyweight was related to his decision (in late 1996) to push ahead with the development of the greenfields Oakajee deep water industrial port just north of Geraldton. Just over a year after he announced that he wanted to see the harbour developed, he launched a plan so dodgy that it should have led to his resignation as the Court Government’s Resources Minister. During February 1998, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) deemed that a proposed agreement between the State Government-run AlintaGas (which came under Mr Barnett’s ministerial auspice) and the US-based gas transmission outfit Epic Energy to transport gas from the North West Shelf to the mooted An Feng-Kingstream (AFKS) steel mill was uncompetitive. The deal, the watchdog said, included “the misuse of market power by AlintaGas for an anticompetitive purpose”. AFKS, the ACCC noted, had received a number of tenders which involved the building of a second gas pipeline. Epic, however, suggested expanding the capacity of the existing one via looping and the installation of additional compression. The watchdog took umbrage at this for a number of reasons. First, it said, by virtue of its ownership of the Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline (DPNGP) – which was (and still is) the only pipe connecting the state’s north with its south – AlintaGas enjoyed “a substantial degree of power in the haulage of gas”. “That power is clear from the ability of AlintaGas to engage in substantial price discrimination in the haulage of gas for different customers,” the ACCC explained. Secondly, the government-run power utility had entered into the proposed agreement “not because of any commercial gain from the haulage of additional gas by virtue of the successful bid for the project and the agreement”, but due to the fact “by doing so it would enable Epic to underbid proposals which were based on the construction of a second pipeline in competition with the DBNGP.” Furthermore, the ACCC claimed (and this was something which had the potential to really rip off WA’s taxpayers), the deal would have resulted in a loss for AlintaGas as Epic was not compelled to make any contribution to overheads – meaning the state would effectively be subsidising the business activities of an American monopoly. This was all in stark contrast to Mr Barnett’s claim at the time that the Court Government had steered WA’s energy industry “down a path of successful deregulation since 1993 to open up competition in the market and promote resource development”.

    (2) As shown with the above-mentioned proposed Kingstream gas deal, Mr Barnett doesn’t have too many issues when it comes to pouring taxpayers’ money down the drain in order to help prop up questionable major industrial developments. Towards the end of 1998 he announced that the Court Government was becoming financially involved with another project – again located in the Mid West – which would see the state help with the construction of a $50 million 365 kilometre gas pipeline and a $12 million power station. This time it was for the $122 million Windimurra vanadium project near Mt Magnet. Judging from comments made by Epic in the second half of 2000, this involved an interest free loan during the construction phase – presumably because there wasn’t enough demand in the Mt Magnet area to justify the establishment of such a facility on purely commercial terms. A joint venture between WA junior Precious Metals Australia and Xstrata, it was expected the operation would be the world’s lowest-cost vanadium producer, supplying some 17 million pounds to the market per annum over 21 years to yield around $3 billion in export revenue. No doubt part of the project’s allure was the fact the geology associated with the 106 million tonne ore reserve looked absolutely fabulous, being conveniently hosted in the world’s only known deposit of oxidised vanadiferous, titaniferous magnetite ore. Furthermore, this material was close to surface (meaning low mining costs) and would not be affected by the presence of any waste rock in the first 10 years of operations. Unfortunately – and this was despite promises made by PMA to the contrary – the downstream processing play was hit by a number of ramp-up problems involving the on-site 126 metre long kiln very early in its life. Then, within three years of the operation’s official opening (which Mr Barnett, as WA Resources Minister, attended in May 2000), Xstrata had bought out its junior partner before attempting to destroy the plant’s infrastructure by driving bulldozers through it. During 2006, PMA’s Roderick Smith explained to the media what went wrong. When Xstrata built the initial circuit, he said, the company assumed it was going to be processing much harder ores (despite the fact the material was oxidised at surface). As a result, the oversized mill ended up over-grinding and over-sliming the dug up dirt. Also, while the circuit relied on magnetic separation to recover the vanadium, this had proven to be inefficient as the over-ground material was losing its magnetic susceptibility. Additionally, the classification method was wrong – Xstrata had used conventional cyclones which separated particles based on mass rather than on particle size, but this didn’t work given the company was trying to grind a dense magnetite with a low density gang material. I only mention this technical stuff because it leads to one important question: Doesn’t it behove a government – which has the potential to waste millions of taxpayers’ dollars – to do its own due diligence on any project being developed by a stock exchange-listed company before investing in the undertaking? As Mr Barnett has shown over the years, economic mineralogy is not in his lexicon; rather, he is more interested in the big picture stuff, even when the canvas depicts a rabid dog chasing its tail. Interestingly, when Xstrata’s parent company Glencore announced in 2014 that it was looking to buy BHP Billiton’s WA nickel assets, Mr Barnett told the press that he believed this Swiss resources house was a “responsible company”, despite the fact it had tried to completely destroy the possibility of any future redevelopment at Windimurra. As a footnote to all this, in early 2015 Windimurra’s last proponent, Atlantic, called in the administrators after bondholders and its major shareholder (Indonesian billionaire Anthony Salim’s Droxford International) failed to agree on a $431 million restructuring package. This happened after a fire swept through the jinxed beneficiation plant, causing the operation to be mothballed.

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  34. you'll get wet says:
    January 22, 2017 at 8:09 pm

    Barnett doesn’t pour taxpayers money down any old drains, they have to be well connected drains. But If you want real scandal the salim family and cbh could earn you a phd

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  35. My Ning says:
    January 23, 2017 at 5:22 pm

    @Misspent yoof …. Sure:

    Yo McGowan, Labor – get your fucking acts together. Now!

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  36. My Ning says:
    January 24, 2017 at 3:56 am

    Patience?! Who’s being delusional now? Patience should never be used as a substitute for complacency, stupidity, laziness and incompetence. Unfortunately these attributes are alive and thriving in the modern WA Labor Party. The campaign should have started well before now.It’s simply unbelievable that after eight years of total fiscal irresponsibility and dishonest arrogance that Barnett still might win this. The crimes of WA Inc seem insignificant compared to Barny’s blunders, yet he and his cabinet are getting away with it thanks to Mumbles, who stands for nothing. Nothing! Big fucking zero! Empty fucking space! Waste of fucking time!

    The biggest mistake the Labor Party made in this last round was to keep Sleepy on as leader. Instead it listened to Smithy on the ABC during the last election night when he said that, like Gallop,the king of Rockingham should given another go. Firstly, McGowan is no Gallop – he doesn’t come remotely close. Secondly, Smithy was setting the boy up to fail. He knew damn well that McGowan was a complete dud and was hopeful he could somehow get parachuted in to become the premier himself some time during this last term. And in the end he did test that water.

    What I want to know is where does McGowan’s power base lie? Who exactly are his backers? And how can they be so stupid? They should be identified, publicly humiliated and flushed out with the bong water after Barnett gets his next mandate and finally puts one of his big picture policies in place – banning bongs.

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    • Frank Calabrese says:
      January 24, 2017 at 12:05 pm

      More Liberal Claptrap – oh and shouldn’t your posts end with © 2017 Authorised by A.Cox, 2/12 Parliament Place, West Perth WA 6005.like a good little Liberal Party Operative that you are My NONG

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  37. Frank Calabrese says:
    January 24, 2017 at 1:09 pm

    Read and weep from a Liberal Friendly Columnist – Your Boy Barnett is going to lose BIG TIME :-) http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/opinion/peter-van-onselen-privately-the-libs-are-predicting-a-bloodbath/news-story/5215069d942648a41522a30ccabbab58

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  38. My Ning says:
    January 24, 2017 at 6:55 pm

    Hey Frank, you read it and weep (especially the last line) ……

    PETER VAN ONSELEN, PerthNow
    November 8, 2016 12:00am

    THE media are frantically talking up how close the US Presidential election might be, courtesy of the email saga dogging Hillary Clinton, but in truth Donald Trump only has a very narrow pathway to victory.

    The real impact of the email saga will be to ensure Clinton starts her presidency as damaged goods.

    She is already the least popular candidate for president in history (aside from Trump).

    To highlight just how narrow Trump’s pathway to victory is he must win a whole host of states which polling shows are 50-50, plus Trump needs to win at least one of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Colorado or Virginia.

    Polling has consistently shown that Trump is at least five points behind in each of these states. And with early voting locking in as many as a quarter of the votes in these states BEFORE the email saga started, a Trump comeback becomes even more unlikely.

    The 50-50 states Trump must win include Florida, North Carolina and Nevada. To stress how high the degree of difficulty is, 50-50 in these states is a best-case scenario for Trump.

    And he must win all three of these states or he won’t get the 270 electoral college votes he needs to become President. Early voting suggests he may be further behind than polls say.

    Then there is Utah, which Clinton can’t win but a conservative independent can, denying Trump more college votes.

    The state’s Mormon population aren’t fans of Trump’s self-confessed penchant for groping women.

    So relax everyone, Trump will soon be known as a former candidate for president rather than a newly elected president.

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  39. My Ning says:
    January 25, 2017 at 5:46 am

    Van Olselen still got it very, very wrong, regardless of whether voting in the US is compulsory or not, so dragging him out of cyberspace to help make your case doesn’t cut it. And, whatever you do, don’t quote Paul Kelly either – aside from also being very wrong about Trump (as was the Abbott-loving Murdoch foreign affairs expert Greg Sheridan) he wrote a book in the first half of the 1990s saying no Australian party leader would ever go into an election on the platform of increasing taxes after Hewson in 1993. But that’s exactly what Howard did in 1998 – and the prick won.

    Besides, an electorate facing compulsory voting must still feel compelled to vote for someone – ol’ Mumbles just doesn’t cut it after five years as leader; he doesn’t come close. This situation is inexcusable. If Barnett does win, it’ll be the Labor Party’s fault, not ours.

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    • Frank Calabrese says:
      January 25, 2017 at 11:58 am

      i will wade out
      till my thighs are steeped in burning flowers
      I will take the sun in my mouth
      and leap into the ripe air
      Alive
      with closed eyes
      to dash against darkness

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  40. Shreiking Wombat Ninja says:
    January 25, 2017 at 7:11 am

    Frank, nobody here wants Barney to win. Got it?

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  41. Frank Calabrese says:
    January 25, 2017 at 1:05 pm

    Actually, your cunning tactic of posting pictures of C&B, verge collections, and shedist buildings for 10 years, to lay the groundwork for a Liberal/Greens propaganda campaign, has finally won me over. Hand me that shovel, I’m off to build Roe 9 for my bum boy Barnett!

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  42. you'll get wet says:
    January 25, 2017 at 3:20 pm

    If Barnett does win, it’ll be the Labor Party’s fault

    Australians don’t like or trust politicians. Govts fall when there’s a recession and/or when enough ppl lose their jobs/fortunes go backwards rather than forwards. Regardless of who’s leader or opposition leader. And that’s the only reality now. If enough ppl are hurting, Gov will go. Lab should be directing the anger of those who are hurting towards Gov. They are not. They are focusing on suburban lifestyle issues of the relatively prosperous. If the hurting vote goes to Hanson thence to LibNat it will McGowan’s fault.

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  43. My Ning says:
    January 29, 2017 at 12:59 pm

    THE SECRET DIARY OF MARK McGOWAN, AGED NEARLY 50

    Sunday, January 29: Thanks to my general inertia (plus that of my media team) Mr Barnett has stolen my thunder again – twice! This week he announced he was going to build a new $500 million-plus rail line between Thornlie and Cockburn, which kind of made my conspicuously-missing-in-this-“campaign” Metronet pledge seem rather redundant. A few days before, it was reported in one of the suburban rags that he had promised to spend $37 million on a State football centre at the Ashfield Reserve (where on Earth is that?) if re-elected. Damn that Mr Barnett – just as I was about to steal the netball vote from him, he wins over the footy players. After these slaps in the face, I got to thinking: how is it that Mr Barnett – who told voters back in 2015 that Liberal Party pledges like “all elections promises would be fully funded and fully costed” were nothing more than “election slogans” and that circumstances change – gets away with continually lying? I mean look at his record of broken promises:
    • A MAX light rail connecting the CBD to Mirrabooka, Nedlands and Victoria Park by 2018 for $1.8 billion – BROKEN.
    • The Fiona Stanley Hospital to be open on time and on budget by 2014 – BROKEN
    • State electricity prices will not increase higher than the inflation rate – BROKEN.
    • Local Government amalgamation – BROKEN
    • A $50 million boating facility at Roebuck Bay for those poor bastards in Broome – BROKEN
    • A port at Oakajee – BROKEN
    • A pipeline between Bunbury and Albany – BROKEN
    • A rail link to the Perth airport by 2018 – BROKEN
    • A gas hub at James Price Point – BROKEN
    • Fiscal responsibility – BROKEN
    After seriously thinking about this, I asked myself two questions. Firstly, where does someone get the balls to maintain this high level of deception and keep a straight face? Secondly, how does he get away with it? Are people really that stupid? (OK – three questions.) Then it occurred to me – it was actually part of my job to keep him accountable. I looked back over the past 12 months. Yes, due to Mr Barnett’s deception this election has been handed to me on a plate. Unfortunately, neither myself nor any of my party faithful have picked up a knife and fork to start enjoying this meal. Instead we have been silent, but not because our mouths have been full. Rather, we simply don’t understand the art of dinner conversation. I phoned my media office to see if we could somehow rectify this in the next seven weeks (seeing we hadn’t really managed to capitalise on Mr Barnett’s abysmal record since the 2013 election almost four years ago), but everyone was out to lunch. No doubt this was also on the taxpayers’ dime.

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  44. Shreiking Wombat Ninja says:
    February 2, 2017 at 6:39 am

    Where is Frank going with this? It doesn’t make sence!

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  45. you'll get wet says:
    February 2, 2017 at 3:48 pm

    ‘The Perth Academic College will reside in the top floors of the building and will encompass outdoor learning areas on every floor, in addition to the outdoor playing space on the roof… where the students will practice abseiling, urban vertical skateboarding, hang gliding and rappelling from Black Hawks. ‘These are just the sort of challenging futuristic outdoor sports our gifted and talented students and their parents of Asian background have been demanding – they are not computer nerds who eat instant noodles at train stations and no WA ALP led by me will ever fuck off back to North Korea,’ said McGowan.

    https://www.markmcgowan.com.au/news/new-cbd-school-solution-will-create-jobs-and-resolve-student-enrolment-pressures-1296

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    • Russell Woolf's Lovechild says:
      February 3, 2017 at 6:42 am

      Students will be required to catch the Metronet to school every day. Anyone unable to provide proof of travel will be sent back to where they came from. McGowan said, “We will decide who comes to this school and the circumstances by which they come.”

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  46. My Ning says:
    February 4, 2017 at 12:17 pm

    THE SECRET DIARY OF MARK McGOWAN, AGED NEARLY 50

    Wednesday, February 1: I was sitting in my comfortable Rockingham kitchen and reading The Worst this morning when I nearly gagged on my coffee. I just couldn’t believe what I was reading. Apparently, while launching his campaign yesterday, Mr Barnett said: “I have never been caught doing anything dodgy in 26 years in parliament. There is no dirt to find.” Really – no dirt? The absolute temerity of the man. Sure, he doesn’t seem to have a rampant dick, and he doesn’t strike me as being much of a pisshead, but no dirt?! There’s plenty of dirt – some of it has even turned into dry mud that has caked onto the soles of the electorate’s shoes. I guess it’s kind of pointless for me to carp on about how fucking dodgy Mr Barnett was when he was Richard Court’s resources minister (1993-2001) given this has partly been covered by that bum boy My Nong in an above entry. Nevertheless, I think it’s worth noting how he significantly upped WA’s sovereign risk level back in 1998 when he was instrumental in broking a shonky deal involving the privatisation of one of WA’s largest pieces of energy infrastructure – that being the $2 billion-plus Dampier to Bunbury natural gas pipeline (DBNGP) – with a giant American company. Anyone who followed this nincompoop’s actions back then simply wouldn’t have been surprised when, some 14 or so years later, he was instrumental in our wonderful State losing its AAA credit rating, despite hosting some of the planet’s biggest iron ore deposits. For those who don’t remember, during the second half of the 1990s US outfit Epic Energy was pretty much the preferred bidder for the DBNGP, which the Court Government was selling off in the hope of covering up its fiscal ineptitude. The deal eventually went ahead, boosting the State’s coffers by $2.407 billion. But things soon went askew when Epic started complaining that the structure and execution of the sales process was flawed. In particular, the company was upset that AlintaGas (the WA Government-run energy utility) – after the sale – claimed there was no “regulatory compact”, a term Epic had repeatedly used during the negotiating process to (in its own words) describe the common understandings and expectations which developed between prospective purchasers of the DBNGP and the WA Government during the pipeline sales process. “These common understandings and expectations were understandings and expectations about the gas market in the State, about the pipeline sale process, and about the way in which the DBNGP would operate after the sale,” the gas transmission outfit said. “Without the common understandings and expectations that formed the regulatory compact, the sale of the DBNGP could not have proceeded.” In particular, Epic was concerned that Mr Barnett seemed to back-peddle on the spirit of the deal by insisting lower tariffs (namely to delivery points south of Kwinana Junction) be enforced after initially agreeing during the negotiations that Epic would be able to determine the price of these tariffs itself – particularly as the company had also agreed to invest a further $875 million into expanding the energy asset’s capacity. “In this situation the State clearly acted in a way to maximise the sale price by accepting and setting a particular environment for a tariff to apply to the asset in the future,” Epic said. “It is not acceptable for the State or its utilities to now suggest that that should not apply and instead a lower tariff is more appropriate. For this to occur, or even the fact that a lower tariff is regulated, given the environment in which Epic acquired the DBNGP and its reasonable expectations as to the tariff that would apply, has serious implications for investors’ confidence in the State and the country.” Or, to put it another way, dealing with the likes of the Court Government meant sovereign risk would become an issue for any future big project investors. In the end Epic cut its losses and walked away. As it turned out, the $2.4 billion did nothing to fix the Court Government’s finances – as seen during the 2001 election campaign when the true nature of its shambolic books was exposed. If US President Donald Trump had been in charge of WA back then, his message to Mr Barnett would have been simple: “You’re fired!” For some reason, though, this didn’t happen. OK – that’s old history, and I concede this. But there was another incident just a few years ago which also should have been put into a Mr Barnett “dirt file” – had my staffers and I bothered to put one together. Again it involved the energy sector. Back in mid 2013, when I was already Opposition Leader, the Barnett Government had to announce that it had sunk at least $280 million into the botched upgrade of the almost 50-year-old Muja A and B coal-fired power stations in Collie. Furthermore, it appeared it would need to spend another $167 million on the undertaking if the plant was to return a paltry $15 million profit over its 15 year life. This was despite promises made by the Premier back in May 2009, when he predicted just $100 million would be needed to modernise the 240 megawatt facilities. “Can I stress that $100 million will be private sector investment, not state government or taxpayer funded,” he told The Worst. However, in June 2013, his Energy Minister – Dr Mike Nahan – contradicted his boss by revealing the State had in fact been footing the bill for the cock-up, suggesting some $75 million (including a $23 million injection by the state-owned Verve Energy into its Victorian joint venture partner Kempe) had effectively blown out the budget bottom line over the previous 10 months. Apparently the problems were caused by extensive corrosion in the plants’ boilers. As usual, Mr Barnett tried to bullshit his way out of it, telling the public that the plant was making a profit when, in fact, it was sucking the taxpayer dry. No dirt?! Hell, there’s plenty of dirt. Where does Mr Barnett get the audacity to say he hasn’t done anything dodgy in 26 years? If anything his performance has been nothing but dodgy. And how has he been getting away with this dodginess? It was at this point that it dawned upon me – he’s been getting away with it because I’ve been letting him get away with it. Me not saying anything regarding the DBNGP is perhaps excusable given I wasn’t the Opposition energy spokesman at the time, nor did I think back then that I had the faintest chance in hell of becoming the Opposition leader. But to remain silent about the Muja debacle when I was the alternative Premier – that admittedly is pretty inexcusable. Being the vacuous non-entity that I am, I was always assuming I could ride on Mr Barnett’s coat tails of incompetence into the top job. Given the tightness of this election, however, maybe I should have tried just a little bit harder, especially as those idiots in the WA Labor Party have given me more than enough latitude to prove myself over the past five years.

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  47. My Ning says:
    February 5, 2017 at 1:08 pm

    Well Frank, there might be a big difference between kneeling down and bending over, but I’d probably do both just to see Barnett get his just desserts. Unfortunately, the Labor Party will make sure he gets away with the millions of dollars of damage that he has done to this state it (a bill, I’m sure, outweighs any damage perpetrated by the Burke/Dowding/Lawrence administrations during the WA Inc era), so it begs the question: who exactly is Barnett’s bum boy here?

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  48. My Ning says:
    February 7, 2017 at 11:57 pm

    THE SECRET DIARY OF MARK McGOWAN, AGED ALMOST 50

    Last weekend we launched our rail campaign in earnest when I announced that Labor would spend $410 million over 15 years building 78 new rail passenger cars. Then, on Monday, I finally dragged out our updated $2.95 billion Metronet plan, which is sure to be a winning ticket for Team McGowan. Combined, I proudly said, this would create 100 million jobs. Of course the press couldn’t resist asking me where on Earth I was going to get the cash to pay for all of this. Well, for a start, we were going to get the $1 billion-plus from the Trumbull Government that it was originally going to spend on the Roe 8/Roe 9 projects. Speaking in my most serious-sounding voice, I said: “We will get that money out of the Commonwealth. We will not be bullied or intimidated.” To make my point, I forcefully added: “If the Commonwealth Government wants to discriminate against Western Australia, then they will lose a bunch of Liberal seats.” To my mind, the Liberal Feds have always been afraid of us here in the West. I mean always. Who could forget, for instance, when that coward Tony Abbott – just two months before the 2013 national election – tried to save his party’s bacon by admitting there was no way it would fund 80% of Mr Barnett’s planned $1.9 billion airport rail link and $1.8 billion MAX light rail project. At the time you could tell Mr Abbott was scared stiff of any political backlash when he told the local press: “Urban rail systems are run by the States, they are owned by the States and that’s why I think they are fundamentally a State responsibility.” About a year-and-a-half later, you could also tell Mr Abbott and his Treasurer Joe Hockey were shaking in their boots when confronted by Mr Barnett over WA’s 57% GST cut between 2007 and 2015, something which cost this State almost $3.7 billion. What a difference that ended up making! You could even perceive the fear in Federal Finance Minister Mathias Cormann’s prose (as published in The Oz on March 3, 2016) when the Belgium bludger outlined exactly where the Commonwealth stood vis-à-vis WA’s future economic growth prospects: “High-end manufacturing in relation to major defence acquisitions in (the) future present great opportunities for WA’s shipbuilding industry in particular. As a trading state, we need to ensure we are in the best position to get our products to market at the lowest possible cost, safely and with minimum disruption to local communities across our metropolitan freight routes. That is why it is so important that the WA Government gets on with building the Perth Freight Link project. All of it.” Obviously this undeniably points to one thing – guaranteed Federal funding for my Metronet idea. Mr Trumbull knows full well that he will pay dearly if he chooses to mess with me – after all, I’ve been a parliamentarian way longer than him. Thinking back on it all now, though, I’m kind of glad the hacks covering the early stages of the Team McGowan campaign weren’t too on the ball when I was announcing my rolling stock plan given there was a story in the news last month (via The Worst, which was probably repeating what the ABC had reported the night before) that public transport patronage across the Perth metropolitan area was currently at a five year low, with the latest data showing that around 5 million less rides were taken on busses and trains last year than in 2015 – a drop in train use of 2.9 million tickets (4.7%) and 2.6 million tickets (3.2%) for busses. Additionally, there were only 4,588,810 train journeys on Perth tracks during December 2016 – the lowest number in seven years. Luckily no one asked me about this as it might have taken some of the shine off one of my few manufacturing initiatives. Also, to cap off our first week of campaigning, we forcefully dealt with the ice issue. Its eradication is, after all, very important to the community. There are times, however, when I’m not sure I am on the same page as my shadow cabinet colleagues when it comes to dealing with this scourge. Last week, for instance, I overheard my driest of dry Treasury spokesman Ben Wyatt make a strange quip when our frontbench met to discuss the building of some new drug rehabilitation facilities in Rockingham. “Methamphetamine use may well go down when Team McGowan takes over,” he told Rita Saffioti, “but the mind numbing performance of our leader will probably drive more people to drink. Then we are going to need some more ice.” As usual I couldn’t tell if he was joking or not. When I later mentioned this to my wife Sarah, she just yawned and told me not to worry about it before turning the TV up.

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  49. Frank Calabrese says:
    February 10, 2017 at 12:35 pm

    Kohli’s average at 52.3 and rising.

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  50. Frank Calabrese says:
    February 13, 2017 at 5:29 pm

    Who is TL101 voting for next month (assuming he’s now old enough to vote)? I miss that little guy!

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  52. Frank Calabrese says:
    February 18, 2017 at 11:42 am

    Josh Jerga ‏@josh_jerga 10h10 hours ago

    Josh Jerga Retweeted GhostWhoVotes
    Both sides internals don’t reflect this.

    GhostWhoVotes @GhostWhoVotes
    #ReachTEL Poll WA State 2 Party Preferred: LIB 50 (+2) ALP 50 (-2) #wapol #auspol

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  53. you'll get wet says:
    February 18, 2017 at 3:25 pm

    Perth 1942.

    There is a direct line between these people, LOR, PHON. SHAME SHAME SHAME on Barnett for collaborating with the scum.

    “When we take over we will have to liquidate certain people,” Bullock declared, and removing a black book from his pocket he read several names, of which witness rememberedthose of W. Mountjoy, W. Basley, H. D. Moseley, Arthur Rudkin, R. Richards, and “two printers from King-street.” Bullock said that the names and addresses of all democratic politicians must be set down, so that they could be “got at,” at the earliest possible moment. All members of the Communist Party, he said, were to be “handed over to the Japanese Army to be shot, so that the blame will fall on the Japanese and not on us.”

    ‘Quicke produced a railway map of ‘the State and pointing to Balingup, wrote “Balingup viaduct, 100 to 200 yards north.” Later Quicke said, “If the Japanese invade the South-West I have a rifle and food ready; I will make to their lines after blowing up the Balingup viaduct,’

    http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/47331668/3737894?searchTerm=

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  54. Russell Woolf's Lovechild says:
    February 20, 2017 at 10:31 am

    Has there ever been a more LOLworthy moment in State politics than Sneakers McGowan’s entry to the ALP campaign launch to Acca Dacca’s TNT … …. “He’s dynamite.”?

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  55. The Lazy Aussie says:
    February 20, 2017 at 12:34 pm

    So what’s the state of Metronet now that Turndown has pulled the money?

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