11:50 AM Secret Societies within Manningham Council | |
Yes, we have a secret society within Manningham Council. As far as I know, they are not sacrificing goats at midnight but they could be starting something much more harmful. So what on earth am I talking about? Please see the minutes for the March 1, 2016 meeting of Council. A secrecy and confidentiality clause has been added to the terms of reference of the "Access & Equity Advisory Committee". "1.3.3 Addition of a Confidentiality and Privacy clause (Clause 10)." (Minutes Page 307).
What Prompted this Need for Confidentiality? There could be several reasons. For instance, a while back I wrote an article, "A New Type of Policing in Manningham" which spoke about how members of this very committee were presumably to observe and report back to Manningham Council on any breachs of Access and Equity policies. In that article I was concerned about this new type of policing which appears to be done on the sly with no checking of accuracy and no accountability. This could be one, but not the only, possible reason for the new secrecy clause. Whatever their reason, this committee appears to be closing ranks to ensure nothing they do or say gets out to the public.
What Does This Committee Do? The Access and Equity Committee has done this: "1.4 Throughout the last 24 months Council’s Access and Equity Advisory Committee has provided comments and recommendations in areas including community safety, footpath connectivity, State Disability Plan consultation, accessibility of Council’s Function Centre stage, workplace diversity, multicultural issues, Food Security Plan, safe road crossings, Aquarena expansion, Whitehorse / Manningham Libraries, Tunstall Square Structure Plan, Live Well in Bulleen project, customer service and facilities, open space management plans, and the development of Council’s Access Equity and Diversity Strategy 2014-2017." (Minutes page 308). As you can see, it would appear that much of what they have done in the last 24 months would not warrant such high levels of confidentiality, unless they were up to something odd with our footpaths and libraries etc. which they know the majority of people would not like. As you can see in the above list of work, there could be some issues that might require confidentiality but certainly the majority of what they do appears not to warrant it. So what is going on? Why are they hiding things from us?
Why Is This Committee Important And Necessary? Manningham council says that this committee exists to assist the implementation of the human rights charter. "7.1 The Human Rights Charter guides the ongoing implementation of Council’s Access, Equity and Diversity Strategy." (Minutes, page 308). This charter presumably is the Victorian "Charter Of Human Rights And Responsibilities Act 2006" In the committees terms of reference, Manningham council then goes on to elaborate what this means: "As the tier of government closest to communities, local government has a critical role to play in making our community environments as healthy and safe as possible, free of prejudice and discrimination. Improving the quality of life of people from diverse backgrounds requires the collaboration and partnership of the whole of Council, the community and State and Federal Government." (Access & Equity Advisory Committee Terms Of Reference, 1 March 2016, page 1) I have no problems with the health and safety and so on, but what do they mean by prejudice and discrimination? Just who do they think is the problem here? Who are those that discriminate and are prejudiced? Is Manningham council discriminatory and prejudiced? Are the people on this committee prejudiced? Could you imagine the headlines if either Manningham council or members of this committee were discriminatory or prejudiced? No I don't think Manningham council see themselves as the problem. Nor do I think the members of the committee see themselves as the problem. So, who does that leave?
Who Are These People On This Committee?
(See points 5 and 6 of Manningham City Council Access & Equity Advisory Committee Draft February 2016 Terms Of Reference presented at 1 March 2016 meeting.)
To ensure nominees satisfy the above criteria and are committed to the terms of reference, the council reserves the right to interview the candidate. "Nominees may be interviewed by Council." (Point 6, Terms of Reference). What is more, Manningham Council can call in just about anyone to be on this committee. See above where all that is required is that a member "has a connection to" Manningham. Notice also that there is not one ordinary average everyday ratepayer on this committee to add any balance to the proceedings. All members of the committee appear to be like-minded extremists and fanatics. The chairman, however, is one of our elected councilors. Let us hope they can provide balance and accountability and not get carried away with these extremist's agendas.
What is the Committee's purpose? "6.1 The Access and Equity Advisory Committee will advise on measures to help create a diverse, accessible, inclusive community through the continual improvement of Council’s operations and planning." (Minutes, page 308). (Note how the council knows about continual improvement. They will apply their knowledge to this issue but will not apply it to reducing costs while improving services.) "The Manningham Access and Equity Advisory Committee was established in 2003 to consider the needs of people from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds and the needs of people with a disability and their carers. In 2014 the committee’s scope was broadened in line with Council’s Access, Equity and Diversity Strategy 2014-2017 to also consider gender equity issues and the needs of people who identify as being gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or intersex (GLBTI)." (Minutes, page 307).
What Goes On In The Committee Meetings? We do not know anything at all regarding their discussions. We never see the minutes or action items. However we do know this: "Advisory Committees do not have power to make policy decisions and are not legally responsible for the recommendations they make to Council." (Point 1, Terms of Reference). "Members will have the opportunity to put forward topics for discussion as agenda items." (Point 3, Terms of Reference). And one more thing: "1. Information and Q&A session on multicultural and multifaith policing in Manningham and the region." (Record of Assembly of Councillors, Access and Equity Advisory Committee, page 16) Yes, that's right. Policies will be policed and enforced in Manningham. And it appears that this committee will play some role in that policing. So in short, committee members can raise any topic they want, there is no responsibility for what they say, no accountability, there is little if any balance, very little fact checking, and it is all done in secret. And the public has absolutely no visibility of what they are doing. This is the environment that these extremists and fanatics long for -- and thrive in.
What Transparency? What Accountability? Manningham council thinks that we do not know what the word 'transparency' means. The council is so dishonest that they use the word 'transparent' in the heading for what they are doing. "12. Transparency and Accountability
No, this is not transparency in any sense of the word. It is not transparency when only members of local government know what the committee is doing. I am sure that in Joseph Stalin's Russia and Pol Pot's Cambodia, members of the government also knew what their government's committees were up to. However, that is not transparency. When the word transparency is used regarding the workings of government, it means the inner workings of the government are visible to the public. The word they should use is 'secrecy' and not 'transparency'.
A similar argument could be made regarding their use of the word 'Accountability' when clearly there is none. The committees terms of reference says committee members are not legally responsible for anything they recommend (see above). By extension, this exclusion would probably also be applied to any preliminary discussions or comments made prior to their recommendation and any comments relating to the recommendation after it is put to Council. So essentially committee members are not legally responsible for nearly all of what they say in committee. So how can they be held accountable? If the chairperson says a member was out of line in something they said, if it can be linked to a recommendation, which it most likely could, then they would just laugh at you. By removing them from prosecution and responsibility you have very little come-back on any of these people. There is no accountability. All the council could do is remove them from the committee. And that, I bet, could be taken to court, especially if any racial or religious issues could be linked to their dismissal from the committee. Clearly the council knows there is no transparency and next to no accountability. They also know that most ordinary decent people would object to what they are doing (and probably saying). So Manningham council deliberately miss-apply these two words.
So what do they discuss? Now, at this point, I enter into the world of conjecture. And I think it is reasonable to do so. Our council and this committee have taken steps to make sure that we will never find out or know what they discuss or recommend. In short they want to work in complete secrecy. So I think we have a right to look into what they are doing as much as is possible. So let us consider what these fanatics might mean when they talk about 'discrimination' and 'prejudice'. To find out what they might mean, I think we need to look overseas to countries where the program of like minded fanatics has progressed much further. On the whole, in Australia, we are not told what their motives and agenda is until it is too late and then they try to sell their agenda and work as a natural 'community change'. So let us look overseas to Europe. As you may be aware there is a massive migration of refugees from Syria into the countries of Europe underway right now. In many European countries there have been many reports of these migrants sexually assaulting the local women. If you look on Youtube you can find videos of fanatics, similar to the ones we have in our council, out on the street holding placards saying "We prefer rapists to racists". No, I am not kidding you. What they are saying is they prefer to be raped by migrants from Syria than live with their home grown 'racists'. So who are these 'racists' they refer to? Well, there are also videos on Youtube that clearly state that white males are the racists. They even go as far as saying that all white men are genetically predisposed to be racists. Again, I am not kidding you. These fanatics are really that mad. By looking at what like-minded lunatics are doing overseas, it would be reasonable to assume that something along these lines is being discussed behind closed doors at Manningham Council. So the problem appears to be white men (except those in government and on government committees, of course.) Someone has been so humored by these extremist's hypocrisy, inconsistency and idiocy that they prepared a light-hearted video mocking their nonsense. You can view it here
How Will All This Work Out? If our council is telling migrants or encouraging them to think that white males are racists and that they need to be wary of them, then how will all this end? What these troublemakers could easily be doing is brewing up a problem that may one day explode in conflicts between white people (men) and migrants. But hopefully migrants will see that our council are complete fools and that what our council is telling them is complete and utter falsehood and so we can hope that such conflict will not occur. But should all the irresponsible nonsense the council spreads blow up one day and there is conflict, then these frauds in the council will be able to say: "See, we told you that while men were racists!" The problem with these fanatics is that they cannot see their own racism, bigotry and discrimination. They are so immature they can't see that they are the very thing they accuse others of being. It is like dealing with immature teenagers when you deal with these extremists. They are blind to the fact that it is they who are the racists, they are the people who hate others and they are the people causing the trouble. But, hopefully, ordinary sensible average people will see sense and prevent this conflict from arising. As for the fools and trouble makers in Manningham Council, all we can do is hope that one day they will meet their just deserts.
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