Victor P Taffa

Politics: Science and Art of Government; Political Affairs or Life; Political Principles or Practice. Pocket Oxford Dictionary.

Editor Victor P Taffa’s interest in Politics was ignited in 1975 with the Whitlam Dismissal.

“My mother and my Aunts took me to the 1975 Liberal Party Election Campaign Rally that was held at Randwick Racecourse. The atmosphere was electric.” Victor remembered.

Victor joined the Liberal Party in December 1982 at the ripe old age of Seventeen. Months later, the Fraser Government was defeated by the Hawke Labor Opposition.

Living in New South Wales, at a State level, Labor is a part of the furniture on the Government Benches. From 1941 until 1995, Labor has governed for 36 of those 54 years.

“When Nick Greiner took office in 1988, it was the first time in my life that I had experienced a Liberal/National Government in New South Wales. The joy of victory was overwhelming.”

As the years went on, Victor was very active assisting in election campaigns for the Liberal Party. That record of assistance is as follows:

• December 1982: Joined Liberal Party (NSW Division)
• July 2009: Joined National Party (NSW Division)

Federal Elections:

• 1983 Federal Election: Liberal Candidate for Dundas
• 1984 Federal Election: Liberal Candidate for Dundas
• 1987 Federal Election: Liberal Candidate for Dundas
• 1987 Federal Election: Liberal Candidate for Parramatta
• 1990 Federal Election: Liberal Candidate for Philip
• 1993 Federal Election: Liberal Candidate for Bennelong
• 1996 Federal Election: Liberal Candidate for Bennelong
• 1996 Federal Election: Liberal Candidate for Parramatta
• 1998 Federal Election: Liberal Candidate for Bennelong
• 2001 Federal Election: Liberal Candidate for Bennelong

Federal By-Elections:

• 1984 Federal By-Election: Liberal Candidate for Hughes

NSW State Elections:

• 1984 State Election: Liberal Candidate for Ryde
• 1988 State Election: Liberal Candidate for Ryde
• 1991 State Election: Liberal Candidate for Parramatta
• 1991 State Election: Liberal Candidate for Ermington
• 1995 State Election: Liberal Candidate for Ermington
• 1999 State Election: Liberal Candidate for Drummoyne
• 1999 State Election: Liberal Candidate for East Hills
• 1999 State Election: Liberal Candidate for Lane Cove
• 1999 State Election: Liberal Candidate for Ryde
• 2003 State Election: Liberal Candidate for Ryde
• 2003 State Election: Liberal Candidate for Strathfield

NSW State By-Elections:

• 1985 State By-Election: Liberal Candidate for Peats
• 1986 State By-Election: Liberal Candidate for Cabramatta
• 1987 State By-Election: Liberal Candidate for Bankstown
• 1992 State By-Election: Liberal Candidate for The Entrance
• 1994 State By-Election: Liberal Candidate for Parramatta
• 1996 State By-Election: Liberal Candidate for Southern Highlands
• 1996 State By-Election: Liberal Candidate for Strathfield

NSW Local Government Elections:

• 1983 Ryde Council Election: Independent Candidate
• 1991 Parramatta Council Election: Independent Candidate
• 2008 Parramatta Council Election: Liberal Party Team
• 2008 Ryde Council Election: Liberal Party Team

NSW Liberal Party Elections:

• May 1998 Liberal Party Pre-Selection Candidate for Federal Seat Of Lowe
• October 2000 Liberal Party Pre-Selection Candidate for NSW Legislative Council
• November 2000 Candidate for NSW Liberal Party State Executive

Elections Contested As a Candidate:

• 1999 Ryde Council Election: Victor P Taffa
• 2004 Ryde Council Election: Victor P Taffa
• 2008 Ryde State By-Election: Victor P Taffa

Politics is a tough game and takes a toll on a person and your family. Having contested 3 Public Elections it becomes a situation of “Unfinished Business.” Anyone can stand for Election to Public Office however the reasons that you aspire to such Office are questioned thoroughly by all and sundry.

The issues that Editor Victor P Taffa will campaign for in the NSW Seat of Newcastle on 26 March 2011 are very focused on the Electorate of Newcastle and largely incorporate Railway and Tramway Improvements and Expansion.

Sydney and New South Wales urgently need both Railway and Tramway Expansion and it is the failure to expand Railway Lines over many Decades and the abandonment of what was the second largest Tramway Network in the world has brought Sydney and New South Wales to the mess that we currently face.

Victor P Taffa

Life is full of decisions. Many we choose, many we do not.

In December 1982 I chose to join the Liberal Party and similarly in July 2009 I chose to join the National Party.

After contesting the October 2008 Ryde State By-Election I attempted to rejoin the Liberal Party. I campaigned to expand our railways.

The Liberal Party State Executive decided to enforce the 10 year ban on my joining the party having stood against an endorsed Liberal Candidate. My efforts to rejoin have been denied.

Under the Coalition agreement I could not sit in the National Party Room despite conversations to the contrary with a senior NSW National Party MP.

At the time I was voicing my opposition to the sell off at a LOSS of $50 Million of the NSW Lotteries.

Considering decisions made by Party State Executives it is little wonder that the NSW Liberal Party has problems in winning elections.

In my media release for Newcastle 2011 I have mentioned that I am a Member of the National Party. Under Coalition rules I would let my membership lapse so as not to face expulsion from the National Party in the future.

Should I be elected to Newcastle in 2011 I will live in the electorate.

However should I fail to win the seat then I will reassess where I live.

Over many years people have played ‘wedge politics’ between myself and my family. The hurt caused to me has been enormous. These same people were happy to see me placed in a Psychiatric Hospital in 2003 and 2010.

My railway expansion plans as contained in www.isput.com.au are vital to Sydney and New South Wales future development and despite the abuse that vested interests have hurled at me I will not leave New South Wales.

Further The Southern Thunderer can and will continue to be published.

Julia Gillard: a political dill- article by Bob Ellis

Bob Ellis

Is Julia Gillard a brilliant parliamentary performer, likely soon to be Prime Minister? Or is she a political dill who should be removed from the Ministry and quickly deselected? Since I tend to the latter view I will be brief.

She organised the numbers for Crean against Beazley in June 2003 and thus lost the 2004 election. She organised the numbers for Latham against Rudd and Beazley in December 2003 and thus cost Labor five more seats in 2004. After Latham’s spontaneous combustion she urged him to stay on as Leader; and after he’d quit parliament, denounced Whitlam and cursed most of his colleagues in print, kept in sympathetic touch with him and prolonged his suicidal bender.

She then intrigued against her leader Kim Beazley, mustering the numbers to depose him when Labor was on 54 %, and installed herself and Rudd as the leadership team that won with 52.7 %.

She sought the Shadow Treasurership, a stupid move that would have lost Labor, had she got it, the 2007 election or come close. She got instead Employment, Workplace Relations, Education and Social Inclusion, a massive workload, after which a good deal of serious trouble began.

Ignoring what the unions had done, spending tens of Millions and working long hours to see Labor elected, she determined to humiliate them. She kept a great deal of Howard’s WorkChoices for a long, long time and persecuted certain unionists, denying them their civil rights. This was seen by the unions, Labor’s saviours, as grossly disloyal and ungrateful, and punishable in the future.

She spent a lot of money putting her name up on school walls, adding gymnasiums that weren’t needed to schools that didn’t want them, and lavishing hundreds of millions on private schools who put their fees up anyway. She thus overspent her budget by 1.5 Billion (a fine Treasurer she would have made) and recouped some of the lost money by cancelling help to crippled Aboriginal children.

She attacked a Ku Klux Klan cartoon in an Indian newspaper a week after an Indian student was knifed and a day before another one was set on fire. She toured India claiming students were safe here, after which things got worse.

She adopted a style in Question Time like Margaret Thatcher’s, of lofty amusement. She never, ever admitted a mistake. She has shown for three years of Question Time no recognisable human characteristic whatever. She plays a mocking goddess, and she does it very well: what fools these mortals be. She has agreed to go on television once a week with Tony Abbott, who plays a genial rogue very well, and will defeat her in two encounters out of three because he can always admit when he is wrong and she cannot.

Last Wednesday she said Australia’s carbon emissions reduction level would stay at 5 %, thus probably losing Labor the Greens’ preferences in the 2010 election. Bob Brown had asked to negotiate a bill he might get through the Senate for them and she flung the offer in his face.

On Tuesday she accused Tony Abbott of standing by teenage girls’ beds to see if they were having sex before marriage or not. This annoyed the Half Million Muslim and Two Million Catholic Labor voters who agree with Abbott that virginity is precious and shouldn’t be squandered on ne’er-do-wells. She said it was none of any politician’s business what girls did in their bedrooms (or, it would seem, at what age) though parliamentary votes on abortion, marijuana and alcopops were apparently okay because she took part in them.

She likes to laugh merrily about most issues, which makes us wonder if she is a serious person.

Worst, however, was what she did last week. Knowing that teachers are the best allies Labor has got, she determined to humiliate every last one of them by publishing in a website the comparative literacy and numeracy rates of different schools and saying if the rate was low it was the teachers’ fault.

She left out of this calculation the relative numbers of Asian students who were learning a different alphabet, the relative numbers of refugee African students whose families had been murdered and were traumatised, the relative numbers of Aboriginal students born deaf, or nearly deaf, or with foetal alcohol syndrome, the relative numbers of impoverished students whose unemployed fathers beat their mothers, and so on. She blamed the teachers for all results in all communities, whatever the cause.

In this, she mightily erred. Teachers are the best, most selfless people there are (apart from, possibly, nurses and AIDS workers) with the most important job there is, of saving the souls of children and building out of rough materials civilised human beings – on, as a rule, half a taxi drivers income. They spread, as a rule, Labor’s humanist values and hand out Labor leaflets on election day. And Julia Gillard has just attacked the lot of them with this fool scheme, and shamed the lot of them, unjustly.

She has not thought this through. She imagines that all school choices made by parents are future choices. She does not understand that they involve, now, thanks to her, taking their kids out of a school where their friends are, and bussing them long miles to a ‘better’ school, which, because of her list will become overcrowded and worse. This interruption to their lives may do them more harm than leaving them where they are – happy, among friends, with teachers and teammates they are bonding with, and a playground they call home.

She hasn’t bent her mind to any of this. She hasn’t thought, too, how easy it is for a private school long practised in propaganda to cheat the statistics, to claim a higher annual average for history studies, say, or English expression, by marking its own pupils up. She talks of parents ‘discussing’ with headmasters the school’s flagging standards and by a miracle uplifting these standards in a month or two. How unrealistic is this? How stupid is this?

And how anti-Labor is this, to start a process which will double the population of private schools and simultaneously deride most state schools and shame them, shame them unjustly, and deplete their numbers? And put them in danger of being closed and sold up for real estate like two hundred Victorian schools were by Kennett, which cost him, of course, the election.

She hasn’t thought this through. She hasn’t understood how hard it is to predict which high school will win at football, or win the debating competition, or the Big Band competition, or the Spelling Bee or the Chifley Award in any year. She hasn’t understood that each high school will have three new teachers this year, and three more next year, who might make all the difference, and a different headmaster the year after, who might make all the difference, or not.

She hasn’t understood how many lives of crime are prevented by a good teacher in a ‘bad’ neighbourhood and how this, too, is valuable, not just academic statistics on a website. She hasn’t understood how good some teachers are at dealing with dyslexia and epilepsy, and low levels of autism, and with pupils whose families have suffered mightily in civil wars and police states, and that defining their schools and pupils as ‘innumerate’ and ‘illiterate’ and the teachers themselves as incompetent is wrong at its heart, and misleading at its heart, and deeply unfair.

Can you compare a good teacher of autistic pupils who score poorly academically, with a good teacher of private school pupils who score well academically, and say the latter is a better teacher than the former? Of course you can’t. Yet it is this kind of ’standard’ she is applying across the nation.

It’s all very well to say ‘all information is good’, but it isn’t. This is why we never publish the names of juvenile offenders, or the sexual history of rape victims, or the names of tsunami victims before their families are told. This is why we don’t let onto juries people who have read sensational headlines of the case they are judging before the trial begins.

By this fool scheme, which will bring discontent to eighty per cent of Labor-voting parents and ninety-eight per cent of Labor-voting teachers she has lost, outright, for good and all I think, the 2010 election and lost Labor power, federally and in most of the states, for another eight or nine years if not forever.

I ask that she be sacked and deselected.

South Australia Shadow Attorney-General Vickie Chapman

South Australia Shadow Minister for Regional Development John Dawkins

Atkinson’s judgement clouded by personal views

Victor P Taffa

South Australia Attorney-General Michael Atkinson is once again allowing his personal views to cloud his judgement and obstruct his legislative responsibility to South Australians; this time as it relates to altruistic gestational surrogacy.

Shadow Attorney-General, Vickie Chapman and Shadow Minister for Regional Development John Dawkins claim the Attorney-General is deliberately stalling the drafting of a simple amendment, which the Government was asked to draft in November 2009.

The Statutes Amendment (Surrogacy) Act 2009 was passed in the Legislative Council in June 2008 without Division. It passed the House of Assembly on 19 November 2009 with a resounding majority 31 votes to 7.

On 27 November 2009, Mr Dawkins wrote to Health Minister, John Hill requesting a small amendment, necessary due to the time that elapsed between the bill passing in the Legislative Council and passing the House of Assembly.

Health Minister Hill referred the request to the Attorney General on 24 December 2009 but the Attorney General has failed to even acknowledge the request not to mention begin working on the amendment.

“We all know the Attorney-General has employed every technique possible to derail my Private Members Bill.”

“It’s ironic that the amendment he has been asked to draft is necessary because of his actions in delaying the bill’s passage.”

“The Attorney-General should respect the parliament’s decision. The fact he has sat on his hands is bad enough but to not even have the courtesy to acknowledge my request is the height of rudeness.” Mr Dawkins said.

“I have no problem announcing that as Attorney-General I would move swiftly to ensure this amendment is drafted and introduced in the first sitting week of the new Parliament – again allowing members a conscience vote on the issue.” Ms Chapman said.

“If the Attorney-General cannot separate his personal views from his duty to the Parliament he should step down at once.”

SA Shadow Minister for Regional Development John Dawkins

Condolences for family of Jock Ferguson

Victor P Taffa

WA Labor MLC Mr. Jock Ferguson has died aged 64 years.

Jock Ferguson was elected to the Thirty-eighth Parliament for the East Metropolitan Region on 6 September 2008 for term commencing 22 May 2009.

Jock Ferguson moved to Western Australia and worked as a fitter in the Pilbara and Gascoyne Region.

Jock Ferguson became State Secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union in 2000 and had a City and Guilds Trade Certificate (Engineering).

Western Australia Premier Colin Barnett has extended condolences to family and friends of Jock Ferguson who passed away yesterday.

Mr Barnett said Mr Ferguson was a true character who fought for what he believed in.

“While I did not always agree with his views, I respected Jock as a true fighter for working men and women. He fought for what he believed in and that is to be admired,” the Premier said.

“On behalf of the Western Australia Government and people in WA, I would like to offer my deepest sympathy to all of his family and loved ones.”

Opposition leader Eric Ripper says he is deeply saddened by the 64-year-old’s death from a heart attack.

Mr Ripper said Mr. Ferguson was not just a colleague but a good friend and he will miss his humour and warmth.

Jock Ferguson was born on 15 January 1946 in Glasgow, Scotland and died on Saturday 13 February 2010 in Perth Western Australia.

WA Premier Colin Barnett

Senator for Northern Territory Nigel Scullion

Thousands protest closure of national archives offices

Victor P Taffa

A petition presented to the House of Representatives last night carried the signatures of 5,748 Australians protesting the closure of the Darwin, Adelaide and Hobart offices of the National Archives of Australia.

Senator for Northern Territory Nigel Scullion said the decision to close the offices contravened the legislation under which the NAA is administered, as well as its own Service Charter, which states that records will be made available in all capital cities in Australia.

“It is a little-known fact that in 2001, then Opposition Member for Griffith Kevin Rudd launched an FOI action against the Government, protesting against the proposed sale of the Cannon Hill repository of the National Archives in Queensland,” Senator Scullion said.

“As Prime Minister Rudd argued then, the economics of this decision are questionable, and I have serious concerns about how the consultation process was conducted, and how the decision to close the offices was made.

“These are areas which are already affected by the tyranny of distance, and closure of the Northern Territory office in particular will remove a culturally-sensitive service for Indigenous people, including members of the Stolen Generation.

“More often than not, these people are not comfortable picking up the phone to speak with a stranger in Canberra about their most intimate family history, so why would the Government even consider centralising such an important service?

“There are also serious consequences for local historians. I have spoken to several in my electorate that say their work would not have been possible if they had had to rely on a digital service.

“This will have an adverse effect on university post-graduate programs and ultimately will lead to the loss of invaluable local historical research.

“In light of the many objections raised by individuals from both sides of the political divide, I will strongly urge Special Minister of State Joe Ludwig to reconsider this decision.”

IP Australia

The decision by the Rudd Government to close National Archives Offices comes only months after all offices of IP Australia were closed in every State and all staff transferred to Canberra.

The centralisation of Government in Australia is Stalinist in its approach and removes Government from accountability and accessibility.

Northern Territory Opposition Leader Terry Mills

Trading in his Independence

Victor P Taffa

Northern Territory Member for Nelson, Gerry Wood, has compromised his position as an Independent MLA and misled his constituents with his decision only to support Government legislation in the Parliament.

Northern Territory Opposition Leader Terry Mills said Mr Wood’s decision to oppose all Opposition legislation, no matter how sensible or necessary, confirms that the man who once traded on his independence has now traded it in.

Mr Mills said Mr Wood has made a quantum leap from conservative Independent to de-facto Labor MLA in the space of just a few months.

“Gerry Wood should let voters in the Nelson electorate decide whether they’re prepared to accept this situation,” Mr Mills said.

“I believe there’s a strong argument for Gerry Wood to resign his seat and contest a by-election on a platform of supporting the discredited, dishonest Henderson Labor Government.

“Mr Wood was elected as an Independent and is now morally obliged to ask the people of Nelson whether they want him to serve as a defacto member of the Labor Party.

Mr Mills has written to Mr Wood calling on him to initiate a by-election for Nelson.

“I point out to Gerry that during the August Parliamentary sittings he was critical of the adversarial nature of Northern Territory politics.

There should be enhanced recognition of the contribution that can be made by all MLAs and those from the broader Territory community to devising approaches to tackle the important issues facing the Territory.

“What better way to tackle these important issues than support the considered, sensible proposals offered by the Country Liberals to tackle the housing crisis; law and order; education; repeat drink driving; health and environment protection.

“Instead, Gerry Wood has indicated he will support the dysfunctional Labor Government’s legislative program. Territorians deserve better – and Gerry Wood should give them that opportunity.”

Following the 2008 Northern Territory election the makeup of the Parliament is as follows:

Labor:                                           13 seats

Country Liberal:                   11 seats

Independent:                           1 seat

Total:                                           25 seats

Tasmania Shadow Attorney General Vanessa Goodwin

BARTLETT MISLEADS ON JOHNSTON PAYOUT

Victor P Taffa

Tasmania Shadow Attorney General Vanessa Goodwin has revealed that Tasmania Premier David Bartlett has misled the Tasmanian public over the circumstances surrounding the payout to the former Police Commissioner.

“While given the circumstances the Tasmanian Liberals do not oppose Mr Jack Johnston receiving an entitlement in lieu of the remainder of his contract, the nature of any payment of taxpayers’ money must be transparently disclosed. We now know that this has not been the case.” Vanessa Goodwin said.

In announcing the payment to Mr Johnston yesterday, Mr Bartlett said: “Mr Johnston will also receive a payment of 75% of his annual remuneration of $244,899 p.a. plus other entitlements, in line with his contractual entitlements.” (David Bartlett, media release, 1 February). However, according to newspaper reports today, Mr Johnston’s contract states that he is not entitled to any such payment if he voluntarily resigns, rather than being terminated.

It is also reported that a spokeswoman for the Premier has confirmed that “the payment is part of a negotiated settlement, as opposed to an entitlement.”

It was therefore an ex gratia payment.

In a desperate attempt to try and put the Police Commissioner debacle behind him, Mr Bartlett appears to have deliberately tried to cover up the true facts surrounding Mr Johnston’s departure and payout.

Just like with the aborted appointment of Richard McCreadie, he has misled the public, rather than put the truth on the table. What Mr Bartlett has proved with this action is that a leopard doesn’t change its spots.

While Tasmania Premier David Bartlett is working diligently it would appear that the longer that the Government stays in office the headaches will mount and scandals will continue to persist.

Tasmania Premier David Bartlett

Western Australia Minister for Local Government John Castrilli

Labor ill-informed about local government reform

Victor P Taffa

Western Australia Minister for Local Government John Castrilli today criticised Opposition Local Government spokesperson Paul Papalia for his ill-informed comment on the local government reform process.

 “Mr Papalia’s latest criticism that I failed in my attempt at local government reform is inaccurate,” Mr Castrilli said.

 “Local government reform remains very much on the State Government’s agenda and I will continue work with the local government sector to achieve good outcomes for the State and residents.

 “If local governments do not want to engage or participate either in a merger or a regional transition group, they are free to decide.

 “The option to participate is a matter for each local government to determine because the reform process is voluntary.

 “Reform is essential and will generate stronger economic growth and employment opportunities, improved facilities and an increased range – and more efficient delivery – of services throughout Western Australia.”

Western Australia Nationals Leader Brendon Grylls was reported to be “interested in matters of electoral reform.”

The redistribution of State electoral boundaries prior to the 2008 State election as conducted by the Carpenter Government almost obliterated the Western Australia National Party. 

WA Nationals Leader Brendon Grylls

John Turner – an MP of genuine integrity

NSW Nationals Chairman Christine Ferguson has paid tribute to outgoing MP John Turner.

Mr Turner, who has been the Member for Myall Lakes in the NSW Parliament since 1988, today announced his intention not to stand for re-election in March 2011.

“John has done a marvelous job for the people of Myall Lakes. He was never afraid to put his electorate first, and fought strongly throughout his time in Parliament to make sure that his constituents received a fair go from a State Labor Government that paid no attention to any place north of the Hunter River.”

Mrs. Ferguson praised Mr Turner for keeping the Pacific Highway on the Government agenda.

“John has been particularly effective in taking the government to task for its failures on the Pacific Highway, especially during his four years as Shadow Minister for Roads.”

“For over two decades John has been a fierce and tireless advocate for his community. He always acted with absolute integrity and will be sorely missed, both by the party and by his electorate.”

Mr Turner was the first person elected to NSW Parliament as Member for Myall Lakes, a district on the mid-north coast that includes the towns of Taree and Forster-Tuncurry.

He spent thirteen years as a Shadow minister, covering a range of portfolios.

From 1999 to 2003 he served with distinction as Deputy Leader of The Nationals.

The Nationals’ State Director Ben Franklin said that the Party had not yet opened nominations for Preselection in Myall Lakes, but that there had been strong interest from locals wishing to stand as Nationals candidates.

“John Turner is obviously a very hard act to follow,” Mr Franklin said.

“There are a number of talented people who will be interested in taking up the fight for the people of Taree and the Great Lakes.

“They want to be able to put their community first, but they also want to be part of a strong team in government, and they realise that the only way they can do both is as a Nationals candidate.

“I encourage anyone interested in nominating to contact Head Office on 1800 672 263”.

Media enquiries: Ben Franklin (02) 9299 5811 or Christine Ferguson 0409 147 057

NSW Nationals