Ron Walker is a man who got seriously rich out of Melbourne’s Grand Prix and monopoly casino licence. But can you believe the Bracks government continues to allow the former Liberal Party bagman to preside pompously over the 2006 Commonwealth Games.

Sealed section August 5

The Commonwealth Games are finishing as we speak and Crikey claims not to have watched a single minute of them even though I bought $500 worth of Seven Network shares a couple of weeks back.

After the magic of the Olympics and the World Cup, it really was very difficult to get excited about Australia winning 82 gold in Manchester. And as a Victorian taxpayer it is just plain annoying that we are spending more than $600 million to host the next boring Commonwealth Games to show off our East Germanesque sports programs that soaks up more than $100 million a year.

Sport is one of the few areas where Australia excells internationally because we are so obsessed with sport to the detriment of everything else.

We don’t have a university in the top 100 globally and, with the exception of Westfield and News Corp, our companies really haven’t cut it on the global stage.

Whilst Steve Bracks was excitedly taking the baton from Manchester this morning, he’s desperately trying to persuade Federal Sports Minister Rod Kemp to kick in some federal funds.

John So snubbed in Manchester

Sealed Section August 7

Victorian Premier Steve Bracks persuaded Melbourne Lord Mayor John So come to Manchester to participate in the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games and ceremonial handover from Manchester’s Lord Mayor.

But we hear that Mr Potatoe Head, aka ComGames chief and former Liberal bagman Ron Walker, banned So from having any role so he returned home early and went into hiding, only emerging to issue a tribute to his old mate Peter Costigan when he passed away on Monday.

Potato Head is an absolute shocker when it comes to wasting public money. You just can’t believe his predictions. This is the bloke who said the Victorian Grand Prix would cost $5 million to establish and run at a profit. Instead taxpayers are directly down by more than $130 million.

And his Commonwealth Games numbers were even more laughable. It was originally only going to cost a gross $147 million with a net public bill of just $9 million.

Instead, we’ve already spent $65 million and the total could push $1 billion. The Feds are now being asked for a $470 million bailout. With the plunging equity markets threatening to push all states and the Feds into deficit this financial year, blowing a lazy bill on the ComGames is just a sick joke.

And Potato Head suddently wants to lift athlete numbers from 4500 to 7500, which would cost another couple of hundred million to run.

It really is time that Ron Walker was sacked and someone with more respect for the public’s money put in charge.

Meanwhile, spurned Lord Mayor John So should just get the video of Frank Sartor at the Olympics if he wants to reflect on what might have been.

Ron Walker is shaping up as the Michael Knight of the Commonwealth Games. Both are head-kicking beanpoles from the construction industry who adopt a “whatever it takes” approach.

Time to sack Mr Potato Head

A subscriber writes:

“Stephen,

Another day in the potato patch.

Ol’ potato head Ron Walker was in charge at the airport to receive our athletes home on Wednesday morning at 6am making sure poor little Lord Mayor Johnny So was relegated to row 22, contrary to the agreed proceedings.

At the Town Hall at lunch time ‘potato head’ wasn’t on the dais (retribution for the breakfast slight) but leapt to his feet and jumped on the stage clutching the Commonwealth Games flag to present to John So personally (which he should have got in Manchester from his fellow LM).

When is this megalomaniacal potato head going to accept that he is not currently elected and show some decency and respect for order and protocol?

It’s bad enough that he sent little Johnny to Coventry in Manchester, but what a nerve to bring his overrated view of his importance back home.

I think that he is still carrying a mallee root on his shoulder from not being knighted after his LM job and this guy needs to be dropped by a bloody big stick sooner rather than later.

I met the big drop-kick on a Qantas flight a couple of years back. His snoring was so bad several 1st class passengers pleaded for refuge in steerage – fair dinkum.

Little Johnny So is holed up at home in a foetal position at the moment, and I think you might see some sparks from his supporters soon.

Anonymous”

Derryn Hinch lays into Ron Walker

Sealed section August 12

You won’t hear these sorts of comments on 3AW because morning presenter Neil Mitchell has an unhealthily cosy relationship with Ron Walker.

So, it’s over to Derryn Hinch on 3AK for the issue which should be getting far more attention in Melbourne at the moment. Ron Walker has done to Lord Mayor what Michael Knight tried to do to Sandy Hollway. This is what Derryn told his listeners last week:

Dear Stephen

Here is the comments by Derryn Hinch on 3AK today and also my comments when I phoned into the program.

“Costigan was shafted by the Bracks Labor Government when they sacked the City Council. Already the Bracks Government I believe has shafted John So?

“John So got wind that he was not going to get the gig and he decided that he wouldn’t even go to Manchester. Then with some assurances from Premier Bracks that he would be in the official party, he reluctantly decided to go. There were some urgent phone calls to the Town Hall apparently from the 2006 Games Head “Sticky Fingers” Ron Walker. From Italy he assured the Lord Mayor that they were moving heaven and earth to maker room for him on the official dais?

“When our Lord Mayor got to the Games City he realised that he had been painted out of any action and he was so hurt and humiliated that he suffered such a loss of face that he immediately changed his plans and flew back home?

“I believe that Premier Steve Bracks and Ron Walker – I think he was urged on by the manipulative and clever political move maker Ron Walker. They decided to squeeze out John So and I believe they did it because they didn’t want his broken English to represent Melbourne on the international stage?

“Another theory is that it was Walker’s revenge because of Council opposition to the Games Village in Royal Park? What they did to our Lord Mayor was a racist disgrace?”

Ends

CRIKEY: Strong stuff from Derryn. More people have probably just heard about it through Crikey than heard him actually say it on air.

Our Presidential potato head

Sealed section August 13

Crikey hates many things in life such as nepotism, greed, cronyism, secrecy, duplicity and hypocrisy. And Ron “Potato Head” Walker is guilty of one of our other pet hates pretension. This effort is a bit like Ray Williams telling people to call him Dr Williams after receiving an honorary degree. Over to our guest Potato Peeler to tell this particularly illuminating Ron Walker story:

“Regarding Ron Walker. When he was president of the Australian Business Arts Foundation, succeeding that other megalomaniac-about-town, Richard Pratt, our Ron insisted that everyone in the organisation address him as “Mr President” including Abaf CEO and former Lord Mayor, Winsome McCaughey.

That did not go down well with our Win, and office visits from Uncle Ron usually meant a staff member in tears later that day.

Cheers, Name withheld

CRIKEY: Is it any surprise Potata Head had the gumption to chuck Lord Mayor John So out of the Manchester flag handover celebrations.

Spending money with gay abandon

Sealed section August 14

There was a famous line from Ron Walker during a debate about Grand Prix spending in the 1990s when he remarked in a meeting in the Premier’s office that “it would be different if it was private money”.

Then Victorian Treasurer Alan Stockdale nearly fell off his chair but it provided quite an insight into Ron Walker’s willingness to spend taxpayers’ money like it is confetti.

We are now witnessing a repeat performance on the Commonwealth Games. Peter Mahon’s spinning outfit Royce Communications is alleged to have been paid about $200,000 for what amounted to not much more than a week’s work developing “communications strategies” for Potato Head’s ComGames organising committee.

It is time the Bracks government brought someone else in to run the show. Afterall, Ron originally told us the Games would cost a net $9 million but now we’re looking at $700 million. Why not make Michael Knight chairman of the organising committee? He doesn’t appear to be doing much in the private sector.