Gunner: Man of action trips up on appointment

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p2354-michael-gunner-1By ERWIN CHLANDA
 
Marking his government’s “Year of Action” Chief Minister Michael Gunner (pictured) says restoring trust was part of the plan when they came to power in August last year.
 
“We are delivering on that plan – we are doing what we said we would do,” he trumpets in a media hand-out.
 
“One of the first actions of this Government was to strengthen ‘Buy Local’ requirements for government contracts.
 
“We have since appointed a Buy Local advocate who is the voice of Territory industry, holds government to account and can black-list businesses who are not genuinely Territory-based or don’t maximise their local content.”
 
Well no, he hasn’t.
 
At 9:40am today I rang the government switch on 89 515211 and asked the operator to be put through to the Buy Local advocate.
 
Do I have the name of that person?
 
Sorry, no, I said. I don’t.
 
She had not heard of such a person, but put me through to the Department of Business.
 
I asked its operator the same question. She said she had not heard of that person nor that position.
 
I told her it’s the person described by Mr Gunner as “the voice of Territory industry”.
 
“One moment. I’ll see if I can find the correct person,” she said.
 
A little later she came back and told me “there is no-one sitting in that position at the moment. The position has not been awarded.”
 
When will it be awarded?
 
“Sorry, I have no idea.”
 
Trust? Can we trust Mr Gunner’s knowledge of the English language?  “We have since appointed” refers to a completed past action.  Or, are we  to trust is that no-one will ask questions or check when Mr Gunner makes an announcement?
 
 
 

3 COMMENTS

  1. Erwin. You rascal! The Chief Minister’s chook house in Darwin would have been barely awake, let alone functioning, when you called on Monday morning after the weekend to call the chief rooster to account for his squawking.
    Mr Gunner has an opportunity to explain or apologise. But pollies in power being what they are, we all know that official silence will be the order of the day.
    At least the silence will confirm the old adage … a rooster one day … feather duster the next.

  2. I wonder how the buy local policy lines up with giving a Sydney company $2m a year for five years to stage a cultural / arts activity in a town full of artists and culturally engaged people?

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