Monday, October 27, 2008

Oppose Labor candidates and their dummies in Boroondara

Once again municipal elections are taking place.

Nominations close tomorrow. That is on 28 October 2008.

We were defeated at the VEC and we do not have proportional representation in Boroondara. Regardless of what the VEC might say the ALP will be running and running hard this election. Even BRAG says so but they have a hidden agenda and they claim people are ALP when they disapprove of them. Most likely the people they dislike are a rival faction in the Liberal Party.

We support the Kroger faction of the Liberal Party. We believe Boroondara is best served by a Krogerite Council.

We urge all voters to be on their guard against ALP candidates and their dummies. This advice was given by Robert Doyle at the last round of municipal elections and nothing could be more sensible.

Voters must beware. Do not vote for Labor candidates or their dummies.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

News Flash. Kennett proves us wrong.

We were wrong. Jeff Kennett is not a candidate for Lord Mayor of Melbourne. Diane Anderson therefore will not be his campaign director.

We do have news about Boroondara. The BRAG have claimed a political party will be running candidates and three dummies in each ward. Really.

Which party? Didn't BRAG say that there were currently no political parties in Boroondara?

We don't take BRAG seriously and neither should anyone else. BRAG live in the clouds.

Political party members WILL contest the forthcoming Boroondara Council elections. Nothing is more certain. To say otherwise is nonsense.

We oppose political parties endorsing candidates in local government. BRAG obviously think they should.

No Mary and Jack. We don't want party politics in Boroondara. You obviously do by your talking up to the various Liberal Party factions who WILL be active this November whether we like it or not. We don't think many ALP members will stand. BRAG will expose them if they do. We think that's hypocritical. BRAG should oppose ALL political party member candidates. Like Liberal Party Kroger faction member Meredith Butler who represents her Glenferrie Ward from Canberra.

Weren't BRAG saying Keep Local Government Local in the recent representation review?

Obviously that doesn't apply to Meredith Butler.

Friday, July 25, 2008

Diane Anderson. The woman behind Kennett and Mary Drost

Diane Anderson is little known in Boroondara but in the United States she's a cult figure. Diane is the first person ever expelled for heresy by the Unitarian Church, and that's big news in America, where the Unitarian Church (now called the Unitarian Universalist Church or UU Church) is pretty big time, and has produced four Presidents. The expulsion took place in Melbourne, Australia at the Melbourne Unitarian Peace Memorial Church in Grey Street, East Melbourne. It was reported in Andrew Landeryou's blog first (funny how Andrew always gets the big scoops) and then found its way to the ABC News and Lawrence Money's gossip column in The Age.

Diane comes from Dearborn in Michigan, and produces Higgins News, a publication that also circulates in parts of Boroondara. In the latest issue is an article by Mary Drost gloating at how she won the big prize in the Boroondara VEC representation review. Mary omits to mention a little help from Jeff Kennett. She also omits to mention a little help from Diane.

Diane likes to keep her real campaigns low key, but the arguments she used unsuccessfully in Stonnington were used by BRAG in Boroondara as well as by Jeff Kennett. Former Legislative Assembly Speaker Ken Coghill copied them also but he doesn't write as well as Diane does. Coghill is a member of the ALP and when he was in parliament represented Werribee. His factional enemies in the right wing Labor Unity faction used to say that's where the metropolitan sewerage farm is but we won't stoop as low as that. Stephen Conroy never does and we like to think we are as gentlemanly as he is.We don't attack people in this blog like some disreputable ALP figures do around the traps.

Coghill is presently exposing corruption in local government but he's really part of the problem. He supported Mary here and so did some of his friends in the Labor Party. No Mr Coghill. The corrupt councils are all ones with single councillor wards and you supported that in Boroondara. How can we take you seriously? The Age might but who reads that newspaper? As Andrew Landeryou says it's full of left wing hype.

We must get back to Diane who is the real thing not her imposters like Coghill and Company. Diane is a good operator. She is also a sworn enemy of Premier John Brumby, which is certainly good for relations with Jeff.

Rumour has it Diane might be helping Jeff soon in another capacity, as his campaign director for Lord Mayor of Melbourne. Remember we told you this first in this blog.

Monday, May 26, 2008

VEC Disgrace. Caves in to Kennett and Mary Drost. Boroondara to remain Wog Free.

The Victorian Electoral Commission have caved in. Boroondara will continue to have ten single councillor wards. Mary Drost, whose Boroondara Residents Action Group, according to the anti-Baillieu blog, wants to keep Boroondara wog free, has got her way.

Congratulations Mary. Your campaigning was magnificent. You even enlisted former Premier Jeff Kennett to support your cause.

The losers are the people of Boroondara. Come November and we will have an all Krogerite Council. Those few Councillors who do a good job are likely to fall, and they were too silly to see it coming.

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Boroondara Pay Slip Scandal

Boroondara Council employees received a document advocating the Council's position on single-councillor wards with their pay slips last week. Is the implication that employees who oppose the Council's stand on single-councillor wards are in danger of losing their jobs?

We have no objection to the Council providing employees with information about the VEC representation review. Our objection is to the Boroondara Council taking a partisan stand.

Imagine an outcry from employees if the Council prior to the last state election issued a pamphlet telling employees the virtues of Andrew McIntosh or Ted Baillieu. They wouldn't tolerate it and neither would most Victorians. Of course we couldn't see the Council issuing a pamphlet supporting Bob Stensholt, whose electorate also includes part of Boroondara. Only one Councillor, who represents the Ashburton area, is likely to support him. That Councillor does, however, support the Council views on single-councillor wards, and that is her personal choice.

We think the Council should provide a balanced pamphlet to its employees with arguments for and against both alternatives. The VEC does so. Why not Boroondara?

Friday, March 7, 2008

BRAG want a wog-free Boroondara?

The anti-Baillieu blog has an item about the Boroondara Residents Action Group this morning. Says they want no wogs in Boroondara.

We are not great supporters of the BRAG. They censor items on their web site that disagree with them, according to comments on our blog. Their main concern is not Boroondara but Camberwell Junction. They are good self publicists. Their activists are well heeled Anglo and white. Their main spokesperson Mary Drost writes letters to the Progress Leader claiming anything but the present ten councillor wards in Boroondara is undemocratic.

We don't think they are racist, and we think that item on the anti-Baillieu blog claiming they are is offensive. We don't agree with Mary Drost for reasons we'll explain in a minute, but we make no personal attack on her. She has good intentions and we commend her for that. We'll explain in the next paragraph why we disagree with her.

No Mary. The present Boroondara Council is undemocratic. A move to multi-councillor wards and proportional representation, opposed by BRAG, may not be totally democratic but it is FAIRER.

Why don't we have a more diverse Council? It's because the single member wards favour candidates who are white Anglo and Liberal. That's Boroondara. The twenty or so per cent who were born overseas are unlikely to be elected. Anyone who is known to vote anything other than Liberal is unlikely to be elected. It's OK to be an independent. It's OK to claim not to be a member of any political party. If the good burghers of Boroondara, except for that small pocket around Ashburton that includes public housing (and how did it ever become part of Boroondara? You didn't campaign hard enough Mary) if people think you are anything other than a true blue Lib you won't get elected. No socialists for Boroondara is a tried and true slogan. We are fairly conservative ourselves, but we prefer to look at a candidate rather than what their politics might be. Boroondara is not federal parliament.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Progress Leader Letters Oppose Council

The following comment appeared on our blog. We repeat it here for the benefit of a wider readership:

Today's Progress Leader, the local Murdoch giveaway in Boroondara, has two letters to the editor relating to the VEC Representation Review.

Neither letter supports any particular voting system, but both are critical of the Boroondara Council.

The Council, according to the letter writers, has spent large sums of money supporting its preferred option, has not recognises any alternatives, is one sided in its propaganda, and is lobbying residents and ratepayers to make a submission for single councillor wards and even provides a template and tells them how to write it.

It seems Boroondara Council doesn't think highly about the intelligence of Boroondara residents. They clearly, in the Council's view, lack the ability to make up their own mind on this issue.

Sound reasons to support a change to proportional represntation.

Interestingly the Council doesn't think proportional representation is a consideration in the current review process. We clearly need more intelligent councillors, not party hacks for one or other of the Liberal Party factions, or in one case of a Labor Party faction. Seems all agree. Mutual self interest.