City of Casey Transparency Advocate

*** Everything Matters Less Than Democracy. ***

If I'm hardline about anything, it's democracy. In a fire, I'd save democracy first, then rescue the other stuff later.

The way I see it, much of what we value about Australian life was fashioned by common people - not by politicians.

While politicians bring us their "programmes for change", we are the ones who give these programmes life, kill them off, and reshape them - through our decisions at the ballot box.

Now, the way of life we've gradually built and perfected through the democratic process is at risk due to poor governance; and the state government's pathological secrecy has degraded our ability to effectively debate its performance.

This lack of transparency is a material threat to democracy. However, we cannot protect our democracy by undermining it even further - as the Coalition intends to do, with a vote of no confidence.

To attempt to cut down a sitting government is a serious action that should be taken only in the gravest of circumstances. The Coalition's preference for an earlier election is nowhere near a sufficiently grave circumstance.

As I said, I am hardline about democracy. So I will not be signing the Coalition's petition.

*** Always a Privilege. Never a Burden. ***

Some of my posts require days or weeks of research, but I've always seen this as a privilege - because only a fortunate person can commit so much time to an activity by choice.

Recently, things changed, resulting in an unplanned, protracted hiatus. However, this has not caused my passion for this work to wane, at all. If anything, it has only confirmed how strongly I feel about political transparency and good governance.

These are non-negotiable in a properly functioning democracy.

To that end, I'm now able to resume doing my small part by publishing facts, asking questions and exposing the practices that undermine our democracy.

--- A note about AI ---

I continue to write without the assistance of AI. I understand AI is producing very good copy these days, but I find it personally rewarding to publish work I've composed on my own.

I'm not against machine learning. I actually studied it in postgrad! I think it would be fun and interesting to use NLP (natural language processing) to analyse election candidate statements. I might also consider using AI to summarise big documents in the early stages of research on a topic.

However, the kinds of discoveries this page is known for - like factual errors, dodgy numbers and inconsistencies - require a curious human mind to piece them together.

For that work, there are no shortcuts.

--- No authorisation message ---

Since Oct 2024, I have been forced by the Local Government Inspectorate (LGI) to authorise every single post on this page. No other political content creator has been required to do this. Only me.

However, the LGI has recently relieved me of this burden. Therefore, this post will simply end... right here. :)

This morning I was fortunate to be among the very large crowd that gathered for the Anzac Day dawn service at Bunjil Place.

As the daughter of immigrants, I often reflect on what it means to be Australian. What does it look like, in practice, to live by Australian values? How do we honour the sacrifices made on our behalf?

Mayor Cr Stefan Koomen aptly reflected on similar themes in his speech this morning:

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"As a community, ANZAC Day calls on us to look after one another and show the same spirit of care and connection that sustained those who served alongside their mates.

In small, everyday acts of kindness, respect, and responsibility, we keep the ANZAC spirit alive."
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Lest we forget.

So, now that One Nation is apparently in the game - for real - I will have to keep a proper eye on its machinations.

Fortunately, I already have been. :)

There's a melodrama playing out in the hard right. I've been waiting for someone to acknowledge or report on it.

If that doesn't happen, I'll discuss it here myself. While this is primarily a page about local government, more people need to know what's happening.

Authorised by A. Gill, PO Box 1116, Narre Warren VIC 3805.

I'm calling it. It appears that council candidates can confidently ignore the requirement to declare campaign donations.

Uneven and often nonexistent enforcement by the Local Government Inspectorate isn't deliberate negligence; it's a sign that the LGI has been so comprehensively kneecapped that it cannot adequately perform its role.

Meanwhile, I will continue to authorise my posts as forced to by the LGI, despite other political pages not being required to do the same.

Authorised by A. Gill, PO Box 1116, Narre Warren VIC 3805.

*** Is Political Transparency Negotiable? ***

If it turns out I'm a political operator pretending to be independent, how would you feel?

Would you feel that I falsely gained my followers' trust, only to push them towards some undisclosed political movement?

Would you feel lied to?

And, importantly, would I deserve your continued trust?

I know how I have felt in the past, when I discovered the hidden agendas of people who swore they were independent.

This is why I put so much energy into exposing the hidden political affiliations of the candidates in the 2024 council election.

And it's why I have dug into the hidden machinery that drove the federal election campaigns in our local seats (it's taken a while, but I will have more to say about this...).

No political outcome that is achieved through dishonesty can be democratic - because a condition of democracy is that people have the information they need to make an *informed choice*.

When we defend a liar just because we agree with their politics, we undermine that principle, because we are teaching them that transparency is optional - that even if they mislead us, we'll keep supporting them anyway.

So if we care about democracy, we must also care about political transparency. We can't pick and choose when it matters.

Because it always matters. Political transparency CANNOT EVER be negotiable.

Keep this in mind when you read my next post. :)

Authorised by A. Gill, PO Box 1116, Narre Warren VIC 3805.