Thursday 6 September 2007

You're a very naughty boy


I'm a huge Monty Python fan.

I grew up on "Albatross, bloody bleedin albatross, bleedin flavour".. and "It's not dead, it's stunned." I guess may fav was, "He's not the Messiah, he's just a naughty boy"

Well, someone today told me I was. A naughty boy that is. It was done in jest and with much mirth as the events of the day unfolded as Cairns Blog was exposed to a wider audience through the magic of yet another Mayoral outburst. Media must be at a desperate low point when a simple blogger is the flavour of the day, in the paper, and on a number of different radio stations consecutively. Even good ol Auntie wanted a piece of me. Thanks for the early morning wake up call Kier! Not all of us are in bed, tucked under the dooner at 7:30pm.

Anyway, I'm a media tart from way back from the day I caught Jenny and Bob behind the bike sheds and I had to go tell the story to all and sundry. It was a hoot. I soon realised I needed to direct this new-found attention excess disorder, or AED, into something constructive. I schemed and played in the sandpit and before long developed a way to trip up the teacher and blame Julian for it.

Of course, any savvy player on the public stage, no matter if you're a footy player or a butt half-naked Indy model, knows that it's all a game. It's a game of attention, but a game nevertheless. It's mutually manipulative and one has to be both a prostitute and pimp to understand it.

After CairnsBlog received the wrath of our Oh Lordy Mayor, I knew I'd be exposed and scrutinised about the actions and rationale behind this blog. Good. That's all I wanted. Mayor Byrne is infamous, maybe even legendary, for his bullying and arrogant attitude, and believe he earns respect from this approach. He's amassed a plethora of incidents and run ins with 100's of local ratepayers and residents over his time in office. Just this afternoon, Alision who runs a worker's takeaway bar on the main drag, telephoned me to say she see's the Mayor's 4WD speeding through the city early in the morning "as if he owns this town". "He's goes through red light as it suits him you know," she said. "One day he'll bowl someone over."

Even happy developers who have got their way with approvals under this development-mad Council are finding his smarmy attitude a bit over the top. I know they think it's time for a change. I mean, there's only so much use out of a retired Russian Oil Spill expert in tropical Queensland.

I've chatted with numerous Council white collars in Spence Street, who are hoping for an overhaul and a clean out. I genuinely think they want to work in a more appreciative environment. One where their contribution to this city is respected, not only by the ratepayers, but by the senior management, and elected representatives. They're clearly not at present. I get fed tale after tale about the Mayor walking the hallways and expects people to bow over and crawl up to him. I learnt early in my working life that respect is something that you earn and have to keep on earning.

I hope to earn respect from my readers by presenting stories based on our local history and that other media can't or won't print. However, I will never be libelous, but their is a true noble duty in letting a wider audience know what happens that often only a select few see or hear. CairnsBlog is also not, and has not been to date "defamatory and offensive" to anyone. It is certainly asking questions and raising concerns from some of our 128,000 residents. Maybe that is our only crime. Maybe it's about time we had our say.

Byrne, as a public official over the last 8 years, will dearly know, there's a lot of dirt floating to the surface. Not a week goes by where there's not a story circulating that details his aggressive nature and abruptness towards locals. Remember his interview with Pat on ABC just a few weeks ago?

Do you want to continue to have a town leader like this? Do you?

So, maybe I'm a naughty boy by trying to hold to account this thing will foolishly call a Council, but it's God's work after all.

Amen.

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