Welcome to South West Confidential, folks, and the first thing to know is that you, the reader, will be helping me put this together to make it as entertaining as possible every time it appears in the South West Voice. So wherever you live, from Mt Pritchard to St Helens, keep your ears open and drop us a line when you think you have something that would be perfect for this column. What are we looking for? Easy. Anything that can be called interesting, gossip, rumour and so on. The laws of defamation do apply to online publishing so please, no slanderous material, it will not get through the editor’s big bat, he will hit it for six straight into the Recycling bin. Anyway, if you’re not sure give me a call on 0417 022 970 and we can discuss your item over the phone.
OK, LET’S GET down to business: Here in the great south west of Sydney we boast many things; one not so well known, until now, is our very own Imelda Marcos. This classy woman of a certain age took advantage of recent house extensions to include a gigantic shoe cupboard in her supersized digs. We too have too much class to reveal her identity, as tempting as that is. Let us just say that the South West Sydney Imelda Marcos also, like her Filipino namesake, has some political connections.
NORTH OF the border, in good old Liverpool, they recently went through the drama of losing their long time general manager, Farooq Portelli. It is no secret that Portelli and the young mayor, Ned ‘‘Kelly’’ Manoun (as he shall be referred to here, not because he’s a bushranger, no, we just like the sound of it) did not see eye to eye and the situation became so bad it was a case of ‘‘one of us has to go’’. When things get to that point in local government, especially when the mayor is popularly elected by the people, he or she wins these battles, so Portelli saw the writing on the wall and went on his way. But we hear that before he left he compiled a list of actions by others on council he considered dubious, He has apparently given a copy of this to a former mayor, Again we hear that sections of the Sydney metro media are sniffing around for a copy of this alleged list. This story may or may not have any legs but we’ll keep an eye out for you.
STILL ON LIVERPOOL, their push for a top class footy stadium and a third A-League team based there is being dismissed by some, but South West Confidential is assured the council is fair dinkum about it. What Liverpool is after is to be named as the site for a brand new stadium which the State Government will fund. If it is successful, it will not only mean a national soccer team based at Liverpool – Liverpool FC anyone? – but possibly host NRL teams such as the Bulldogs, the Eels and, wait for it, the Wests Tigers. The last of these plays four matches at Campbelltown, but current club chief executive officer Grant Mayer has said, especially after a recent poor attendance there that games at Campbelltown are not guaranteed. A brand new stadium up the road at Liverpool may be very tempting for the joint venture, but we shall see. Don’t forget that Campbelltown is also pushing for the third Sydney stadium, but it is believed the powers that be consider the Macarthur region has enough facilities. Time will tell.
