Bundarrah Days

I HAD an encounter with Victoria's unelected Premier, John Brumby, on radio today and it's official - the man's a con!

He politicked in a fashion that was inexcusable under the circumstances and tried to run me out of time. Several times I had to interrupt and say "John, give someone else a go" but he kept going desperate to avoid giving me a chance to be critical of his government. He has mastered the political talk back trick of not listening to anyone else whilst he's talking which enables him to speak over everyone else. No doubt he shields his ear from the phone until he has finished speaking.

What it means is that Brumby is gutless and guilty. He knows he's a failure but you can bet your life he's giving due thanks to Black Saturday for revving up his popularity. Can you believe it - the Brumby government has increased its popularity since this tragic disaster. He's a good actor, this Premier - an expert at feigning empathy with victims. But does he really give a damn? Personally I don't doubt he feels sorry for the victims of Black Saturday. But it's a different story politically - Black Saturday was a gift he and his government have accepted with open arms.

Witness that other *****, Deputy Premier Rob Hulls, accusing the Opposition of politicking for pointing out that the government failed to pass on strident warnings about the inevitability of deadly fires on February 7. He was gleeful.

So who is really doing the politicking - The Opposition for pointing out the truth or Brumby and Hulls who are using the fate of victims to try and avoid due and well deserved censure?

During my exchange with Brumby on 3 AW's Neil Mitchell Show, Mitchell the talking head again talked the talk to someone who has actually walked the walk. He called me a lobbyist because I identified myself as a mountain cattleman. He made an assumption that I had called to talk about alpine grazing. I had not.

I wanted to know whether Brumby agreed with Brack's claim that his laws would have prevented Black Friday, 1939. If so, why didn't they prevent Black Saturday? Can you believe that in 2006 Bracks said this?

“In 2003, we had probably the closest we’ve ever had to the conditions of ‘39. We had a continual dry period for five years before, and we had temperatures approaching 40 degrees. We had strong northerly winds, and that was occurring regularly. It wasn’t as bad in terms of climatic conditions, but it was very close, and I think we were much better prepared.

The best indication has been the ‘39 Royal Commission report, which showed there was nothing that could be done at that point in time. With the existing laws, we could have prevented those fires occurring. They were the strongest fires Victoria has ever had, but the systems weren’t in place properly and appropriately to deal with them.”

Of course Brumby ran from my question and Mitchell sheltered him. So, I ask again - who is the lobbyist? I don't get paid for trying to change the management of our forests.

I just tell it as I see it and when it comes to fire and the environment I see it far more clearly than Brumby and Mitchell.