Wednesday 29 July 2009

Top Council employee moon-lighting

One of the highest paid staff at Cairns Regional Council, is also running her own media company.

Kerie Hull, the current Corporate Communications Manager, has been working two jobs for some time, maybe months.

Hull was at the centre of a $17,000 Cairns Regional Council investigation into a secret deal done with a local radio station to get Mayor Val Schier on air.

A simple search on the Internet reveals that Ms Hull has again activated her media consultancy called Publicity Works NQ. The company is listed on Telstra's White Pages with a registered address of Warrnambool Street, Trinity Park, QLD 4879. Telephone and fax numbers area also listed.

A website http://www.publicityworks-nq.com.au/ appears not to work, but is registered by Kerie Rae Hull, Sole Trader.

Her ABN was updated last Thursday (88121468905), and another company was added, Blue Sky Communication.

Why is Ms Hull undertaking other work, that would clearly be perceived as a conflict of interest, in her current role as Council's chief media officer?

If she has undertaken an application for WorkCover due to stress or sick leave, for an extended period whilst her future employment is being discussed, then why is she actively doing another job? Has the CEO been informed? Has any WorkCover application included details that Ms Hull is in-fact working during this period of "leave"?

The online business listing states "Publicity Works is a North Queensland-based public relations firm with clients across the state," reads the Internet description:
  • "Our consultants have the capacity to go where you need them to be. Our creative team of professional writers and trainers are expert in the planning, development, and management of powerful communication strategies.

    We build capability by collaborating with leading technical production crews and hand-picking them to suit specific projects and budgets."
Although ABC Far North Radio did not confirm, Kerie Hull was seen visiting the Sheridan Street studio to set up media interviews for Aboriginal leader, Noel Pearson.


Ms Hull has also been listed as the official media contact for Kfibre for some months, a company that offers a range of dietary fibre powders from sugarcane.


Ms Hull's business was listed in the Cairns Chamber of Commerce directory, produced in March last year, about the same time she started contract work at Council. She was appointed to the full-time role in September.

Ms Hull has been away on "leave" from her $130,000 pa Council job, almost since the investigation into the secret deal with Radio 4CA was conducted. It showed Kerie Hull had withheld information from the Mayor about the deal.

A separate investigation by the Federal Advertising Authority is about to rule on the non-disclosure of the deal during the on-air weekly programme.

32 comments:

Syd Walker said...

Fascinating stuff Michael.

The possible Pearson connection is especially interesting.

It seems to me that Noel Pearson and a few supporters are playing a very nasty game stirring up a 'black/green' argument where no real schism exists.

It's been clear for some time this agenda is being facilitated enthusiastically by News Corp.

Noj Nedlaw said...

Just on a whim - because I was on Facebook at the time - I searched for said Ms Hull.


Her profile lists her date of birth - is she really that old - and also lists her employer as Publicity Works NQ. No mention of poor old Cairns Regional Council and its $130K pa contribution to her financial well-being.

Carl Radle said...

K Fibre - Obviously nothing to do with moral fibre

CBD Warrior said...

You can trash Kerie and the others at council all ya want, mate but they still aren't givin' you that job.

Brian, Kewarra said...

hahah i doubt michael would want to work in teh same building as snakey blakie and that werido sno job!!!

Constance Lloyd PhD said...

CBD Warrior protests a little too much methinks.

Obviously some dark hidden desire wanting to manifest itself. It's okay CBD, CairnsBloggers will support you in this your time of pyschological need.

It's okay to fantasize about a job at CRC that Michael is neither seeking nor wants. What is sad is that I think that you want the job yourself. Trust us, we understand you, we want to help you.

Obviously you feel the need to be near Clr Blake. You identify with him. Wish you were him. These fixations can be dealt with.

Deflecting these deep desires to a third party (in this case Mike Moore) is very common.

Your neurosis can be treated.

Syd Walker said...

Who wouldn't want a job with a $130K salary if you don't need to show up for work?

The CRC should run a lottery with this sinecure as first prize. It could make a tidy profit.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Bryan Law said...

I know what job I want at CRC, and it isn't Kezza's. I want Val's job!

And I'm thinking about running for it again in 2012. I'd love to have a good old-fashioned robust debate with our "Green" Mayor.

Meanwhile I'm just Soooo WITH Syd Walker about Noel Pearson. Not only is Noel a pretend Blackfella with a malevolent agenda, I hear he's a secret Jew. In the same secret Jewish conspiracy as Rupert (Soloman) Murdoch.

You can tell because the Kabalistic value of "Murdoch and Pearson screw the greens" is 143, the precise number of public bathrooms in central Sydney. These aren't just coincidences you know.

hobnobit said...

mike,
why are you deleting my comments?
as i said: your gossip is unbecoming, it's easy to sound off from the extra inches of your doc martens. think more carefully about what you post.

DCB Worrier said...

Hobnobit - use your real name, you coward.

and a blog administrator can delete any comments he/she wants to. It's their Blog. And while you're around the mirror, have a look at the meaning of the word Gossip - you half-educated dill.

Jude Johnston said...

Sigh, Hobnobit, your post was deleted because it was "anonymous". When you next post a comment, look above the comment box and you will see a message under LEAVE YOUR COMMENT. It explains the rules. How many times do ya have to be told!

Cairns Post page 9 said...

Kerie is on unpaid leave working as a volunteer on indigenous issues.

Thornton On Spence said...

I wonder if CBD Warrior sat at his Computer Screen flexing his muscles in that fetching little Singlet and Tight Shorts combo his hero Alan Blake wears. Back to the Esplanade CBD to talk to your Electorate. Your time is much better spent there than it is making comments on this Blog. As a reminder those pretty young girls often topless are not your Electorate. They are Backpackers.

Unknown said...

Bryan,

Not only is Noel Pearson in collusion with the sinister Australia-Israel lobby to take over Cape York and populate it with wild Rabbis, his grandfather was part of a Zionist-Aboriginal conspiracy to kill the Kennedy brothers.

Syd Walker said...

Nick and Bryan

Deliberate misrepresentation is the first resort of scoundrels and I'm disappointed in the intellectual dishonesty of both of you in this instance.

I did not makes the claims you 'put in my mouth'.

I did say - and repeat - that there's an agenda underway to create a quite unnecessary schism between blacks and greens based on the promotion of essentially dishonest arguments. That loose alliance - where it has flourished - has always been a great irritant to the mining industry, for rather obvious reasons.

You, Bryan, in all your generosity of spirit, are playing a minor role in that project (IMO). If you weren't so suss on other issues (such as US warship visits), you might well get yourself a column in the Australian from time to time. I'm sure if you sent them an article hoeing into the Greens they'd publish it with some glee (why not give it a go?)

Does that mean you're an 'agent' or 'conscious stooge' of foreign powers or big business'? Nope. That doesn't follow. A more simple explanation is that you're just what's known in the trade as a 'useful idiot'.

Noel Pearson, I think, can give his own explanation for his behaviour, should he care to share it with us. He's very articulate, after all.

If he ever showed up in a public debating forum such as this, I'd like to ask him a few questions. For instance, does he still believe that anyone who opposed the Northern Territory intervention supported 'child abuse'?

Here's a short quote from Chris Graham, editor of the National Indigenous Times, published in Crikey a few months ago. The whole page (which includes some pro-Pearson commentary) is well worth reading, in my opinion:

He [Noel Pearson] was the only Aboriginal person ‘consulted’ by the Howard government prior to the intervention being announced. But in case you’ve missed it, Pearson doesn’t live in the Northern Territory. He never has. Probably never will. But he supported the legislation regardless, even though Brough did not consult with a single affected stakeholder.

Altogether, Pearson has said some decidedly silly things in the past week, and The Australian has been only too keen to print them, and without a hint of irony.

...here’s another silly Pearson-ism from yesterday: “We have been forced by government to a real juncture where serious consideration has to be given to whether we have to go back to the barricades.”

I presume Noel’s using “we” in the royal sense. Because after nearly a decade of supporting the Howard government in numerous black rights abuses, he’s about as popular as pork at a bah mitzvah.

Syd Walker said...

Here's more from the Crikey posting, written a few months ago, by Chris Graham, Editor of The National Indigenous Times:

The Australian reports: “Mr Pearson said the wild rivers legislation took from the traditional owners of Cape York the right to develop and manage any protective regimes that affected their land and livelihood.”

There is, of course, a great deal more to the issue than News extremelyLimited has reported.

The legislation, enacted in 2005, allows for rivers with high conservation values to be declared “wild”. In crude terms, one kilometre each side of the bank is “highly protected”, and the broader basin that feeds the river is also “less highly protected”.

Contrary to claims, the legislation does not prevent economic development in gazetted areas. Grazing, fishing, eco-tourism, even mining, can all occur, albeit under strict environmental guidelines. Hardly a bad thing. Unless you’re anti-green.

I don’t think Pearson is. What seems to have most outraged Him is that his organisation  — Balkanu  — submitted a report to government opposing the wild rivers declarations. Pearson was even funded by Labor to do the report (some $60,000). But the government went ahead with it anyway.

Now, Pearson and The Australian  —  without any apparent proof — are claiming that the Bligh government stitched up a deal with the Wilderness Society prior to the election that would see the areas locked up, in exchange for Greens’ preferences.

Historically, the majority of Aboriginal people fall squarely on the side of preservation. That doesn’t mean they oppose economic development, but most want it done sensibly and the wild rivers legislation seeks to do that. Whatever the actual numbers, I have some sympathy for the theory that governments don’t properly consult with Aboriginal people, and that political deals get done without reference to Aboriginal aspirations. But I have no sympathy  — and nor do the overwhelming majority of my colleagues in Indigenous affairs  — for Pearson, or The Oz. Particularly not when they spouts rubbish like this.

Expect The Australian to die in a ditch on this issue; they’ll back Pearson to the hilt, and based on past experience, the facts will be the first casualty, followed by ever increasing levels of shrieking and bleating.

In the meantime, I intend to watch Noel “go back to the barricades”. I’ll be there too, Noel. You’ll recognise me as the white guy standing off to the side, counting the Aboriginal leaders (on one hand) who fall in behind you.

Syd Walker said...

And while were looking at the Noel Pearson Wild Rivers issue once again, I wonder if an explanation has been forthcoming yet regarding the discrepancy between Noel Pearson's apparent outrage over the legislation and his brother Gerhard's written endorsement of that legislation prior to the last State election?

This was noted in an (unusual) Australian article on the subject on May 25th - see Pearson Brothers face off over Cape York.

Any explanation for this Noel or Gerhard? Can you explain how conservation groups could have been expected to know the Gerhard Pearson letter did not reflect an authentic collective view at the time?

Perhaps you, Bryan, as Noel Pearson's self-appointed apologist in Cairns could give us an explanation, if Noel is too busy.

Or is Kerry Hull's job these days?

Unknown said...

Syd Walker said...

"Nick and Bryan

Deliberate misrepresentation is the first resort of scoundrels and I'm disappointed in the intellectual dishonesty of both of you in this instance.
I did not makes the claims you 'put in my mouth'."

Lighten up Syd, you did not think I was being serious did you...? I would not make light of serious issues on your own blog, but certainly on the cairns Blog we should be allowed to poke fun at each other sometimes ?? And i don't mind being called a scoundrel, it is a great improvement on being called a Zionist.

Syd Walker said...

Nick, no, I didn't think you were being serious. I thought you were being downright silly. If it's any consolation, I thought Bryan's remark was even more silly - and my reply was written primarily with him in mind.

Israeli tanks are marauding through Gaza AGAIN, this time mainly to raze agricultural land, even as we prattle on here...

Does 'peace activist' Bryan Law have anything to say about it? (This will probably start him scampering around for reasons to blame the Palestinians in equal measure, so he can faithfully maintain his 'balanced view').

Does Bryan protest the 62 year occupation? Does he even acknowledge how all those Palestinians came to be crowded into Gaza in the first place (many were driven off their land, out of other parts of Palestine, in a murderous rampage by the likes of much-feted so-called 'Holocaust survivors' such as Frank Lowy and Elie Wiesel).

Does Bryan ever use the term 'Zionism' (the ideology that gave birth to a Jewish Apartheid State in Palestine), except to make light of my views or for some equally trivial purpose?

Not that I've noticed.

Bryan revels in the theatrics of being a 'peace activist', but prefers to leave his brain at the door when it comes to analyzing the principal drivers of contemporary wars. All up, he's a useful idiot who plays a useful theatrical role for the warmongers. I can sympathize. I used to be one too.

If that's too 'heavy' Nick, I suggest you try refining your quips - or target them at someone less inclined to respond.

Bryan Law said...

Dear Syd, how dare you call me useful! As for “Peace Activist”, you should update that term to the current “Christian Nonviolence Activist”. I like to have a real world effect. That’s why we stopped the live-firing and hindered the war-games during Talisman sabre 09. We are now thinking about 2011.

What puts me off about your obsession with Middle East politics just serves as a distraction from the real area in the world where can have the most effect. Here in Australia. Stopping Australian participation in war, war crimes, genocide, extortion and the arms trade. Now.

Stopping our support of the US military Industrial complex which, among other things, helps arm the Israel you complain about. In addressing Australian militarism, I have both short and long-term goals. Disrupting Talisman-Sabre is the short-term. For the longer term Australian foreign policy must develop four legs “We disarm”, “We help others disarm”, “We be good neighbours”, “We practice powerful nonviolent justice”.

Your conspiracy theories about the “Zionists”strike me as a fanciful way to distract attention from real issues. Your statements about Noel Pearson are equally ludicrous. You are just broadcasting your ignorance and complicating a debate that really ought be pretty easy to have.

Greens need to listen to and respect Aboriginal leadership. When I was active in the field on Cape York there was a good supply of Aboriginal leadership whose chief obstacle was that the controllers of government resources (i) didn’t listen to Aboriginal thinking and (ii) couldn’t find their own backside in broad daylight, even with a map and a friend.

When Greens do deals with governments against the wishes of Aborigines, well, I think that’s just colonial and fucked.

Bryan Law said...

You can rest assured Syd - I won’t be writing an anti-Green column for the Australian. Some state Greens Parties work really well and build success upon success. Tasmania, Western Australia, NSW and South Australia come to mind. But the conservative, white, middle aged and middle class school prefects that now control the Queensland Greens – well them I could think about doing some adverse publicity about in a strategic moment. Probably during a Senate election.

And as for Denis and John and the local branch of Far North Greens – well them I’m considering doing an art project for:

“Are Greens better or worse than Nazis?”

On the better side we could put;
1.The Nazis used hydro-carbons to run their ovens. Greens will use Solar Thermal energy.
2. The Greens are not as well organised as the Nazis.
3. The Greens put women in charge of Party Policy.

On the worse side we could put;
1. Nazis have been mostly dormant for 60 years. Greens are here now.
2. Nazis had better fashion designers.
3. Nazis were never boring.

Feedback welcome on Art project.

America is welcome in cairns said...

These posts by bryan lawless and syd the jew hater are funny ,
one who thinks he makes a difference and one who posts on this blog because all sane australians don,t read his jew hating blog , pretty funny really .
We live in the best country in the world , but it is marred by people like the above two who most cairns people think are fruitloops.

Syd Walker said...

Bryan

Same old FUD (but who expects anything else from you?)

1/ No response on the specific point about the obvious, blatant discrepancy between Gerhard Pearson's pre-election letter about the Wild Rivers' Legislation and Noel Pearson's post election indignant bluster (but why bother deal with an 'inconvenient truth' when you can dishonestly ignore it?)

2/ No response re: the outrageous ongoing brutality of a nuclear-armed tribal supremacist State in the Middle eEast (which actively collaborated, BTW, with Apartheid South Africa's nuclear weapons program in the 1970s and 80s).

You call yourself a Christian Bryan. I think it's arguable Jesus would have agreed. Saint Paul most certainly would have had severe doubts:

"in Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile..."

I find your apparent willingness to condone the Israeli State's 60+ year occupation reprehensible beyond words. You strike me as the kind of 'peace activist' that Jesus doubtless pissed off severely when he drove money changers out of the temple.

You have a seemingly infinite capacity to rationalize the most despicable one-sided brutality.

As you apparently won't listen to me - preferring glib put-downs and other evasions - try Oliver Cromwell instead. His appeal was less directed at the rational faculties:

"I beseech you in the bowels of Christ think it possible you may be mistaken"

Alison Alloway said...

I'm glad Syd raised the issue of "Federal Intervention in the Northern Territory." The last report I read quoted Doctors who did the exminations of children and their findings were that they did not discover any more children who had been sexually abused, than were already known.

Syd Walker said...

Thanks for the reminder Alison. Mal Brough's famous pre-2007 election 'let's wedge the lefties' 'send in the troops' 'only the Feds can get the paedophiles!' Northern Territory Intervention (ably assisted by the likes of Noel Pearson).

Here's what Chris Watson of The National Indigenous Times had to say about that:

Brough and the media can wheel out the Warren Mundines and Noel Pearsons of Aboriginal Australia all they like and claim overwhelming support for the intervention and Mal Brough personally. But it doesn’t change the reality that to the vast majority of Indigenous Australians, and their non Indigenous supporters, Brough is considered a joke. And a bad one at that.

That was back in 2008. Was he right? It seems so, according to this recent report in The Age: Pedophile ring claims unfounded

AN INVESTIGATION by Australia's main crime-fighting agency has found no evidence of organised pedophilia in Northern Territory indigenous communities.

The finding by the Australian Crime Commission demolishes one of the central claims used by the Howard government to support its controversial NT intervention.

In the now-discredited claims that underlined his push for the 2007 intervention, then-indigenous affairs minister Mal Brough, along with some commentators, claimed there were "pedophile rings" in the Northern Territory.

But in an interview with The Sunday Age, crime commission chief John Lawler said his agency's 18-month multimillion-dollar investigation had determined there was "not organised pedophilia in indigenous communities".

The commission was directed by the Howard government in 2007 to use its special powers — given to the agency in 2003 to fight organised crime such as drug trafficking and money laundering — to investigate child abuse in the territory.

Among the crime commission's powers is the ability to force people to answer questions in secret coercive hearings or risk being sent to prison.

"One of the early questions that was being asked (at the beginning of the intervention) was: 'Was there organised pedophilia targeting indigenous communities and children?' " Mr Lawler said.

"One of the things that the (crime commission) report has been able to find and report on is that that does not seem to be the case," he said...

Alison Alloway said...

The "intervention" exercise was yet another disgusting and shameful abuse perpetrated against the aboriginal peoples. I have been undertaking research lately into how the Queensland Government treated its aboriginal lepers and have been revolted by the cruelty dealt to them. Reading through the accounts, all I could think was, "We (whites) haven't changed much in our attitudes..".

Quien Sabe said...

Folks,

This seems to have digressed from the original theme of this thread, maybe you can take it to the "Open Debate" forum

Veritas said...

If ever you need proof that snakey Blakie and his ester while read the blog, is the admission when pressed and exposed that Kerrie is well enough to work but only on a 'voluntary' basis.

Thanks to Cairns Blog for exposing yet again duplicity on the part of Kerrie. Well, what do you expect when you sleep close to the devil(Blake) you end up doing and looking like him.

Thornton On Spence said...

I saw Blakey the other day and he is looking decidedly old. His hair no longer hides the bald spots and I don't think he has been able to scam any clothes from Victor Mellick and they look more like KMart 2 for 1's. Maybe it's all those late nights looking after Kerie in her sick bed tending to her medicinal needs and reading her late night stories to sooth her troubled brow. At least the Blackberry charges will be much lower now he can legitimately spend more time with Kerie.

John, Kuranda said...

But these scandals, presumably here in Cairns, unfortunately are just the tip of the iceberg. The arrogance of certain CRC employees, the actions of certain elected councillors is something that I am sure is being repeated all over Queensland and the rest of the country. It is a shame that the community's trust in politicians has been so damaged when there are good people out there who want to serve the community.

Jude Johnston said...

I agree John, about the "tip of the Iceburg". With the emergence of the information with regard to "Lobbyists" and "Success Fees", my over active imagination is working overtime, but it puts "Council working with Developers" into a whole new context