Tuesday, April 14, 2020

Why Do I Avoid Sailing on Lake Macquarie?

Just now I am musing about how development on the shores of Lake Macquarie had spoiled it's amenity for cruising sailors. I recall a major stylish between property developer GM and an emergent green group over the exploitation of waterfront greenspace for private housing. GM ultimately got his way as the state government stamped it's approval.
Today I Googled GM and a brief review off his CV portrays him as a successful property developer and politician. But dig into Wikipedia and, among other findings of political corruption by the Australian Commission Against Crime you find this level of criminal organisation:-
"McCloy Group's 'City Exchange' is tenanted by a gym owned by Wests Group. Wests Group are a not-for-profit gambling entity that, according to its 2017 Annual Report[17]', made $143m in revenue in the year ending January 2017. As a group whose business interests are primarily involved in gambling, Wests Group are an illegal donor to political candidates in NSW, and as Lord Mayor of Newcastle and proprietor of McCloy group, incomes from Wests Group to Jeff McCloy or McCloy Group are considered indirect political donations".

So, perhaps next time you're walking the shores of Lake Macquarie and are stopped by private development, or assaulted by gaudy waterfront mansions, or even when you decide to not go to Lake Macquarie because it's to crowded and noisy, and assaults your senses, thank Geoff Mc Cloy or his developer mate Hilton Grugeon, once millionaire darlings of local media but essentially turned out to be corrupt, self- serving arseholes.
An Arsehole and his Paradise

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