"Starting the change for the better in Western Sydney" ... the Leader of the Opposition, Barry O'Farrell MP is coming to Parramatta to have breakfast with you.

Some might say I really have gone off the planet! Yes, I've joined the scouts again since leaving school. But this time, it's "Destination Future!"

And even though the Cumberland Gang Show started in 1969 in Ryde, it celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2009 by performing in Parramatta's Riverside Theatres. More importantly, I'm in the cast!

You are invited to hear former Independent Commission Against Corruption's Director of Investigations Clive Small speak about his new book.

Mr Small was a former NSW Police Assistant Commissioner and then the ICAC's Director of Investigations. A controversial figure for many years, Mr Small created the NSW Police Force's top unit of elite detectives, called Crime Agencies, which evolved into the State Crime Command today. Among his many credits as a crimefighter are the murder of anti-drugs campaigner Donald Mackay, the Nugan Hand bank, and his command of the strike force that caught backpacker murderer Ivan Milat.

Clive Small is a co-author with Tom Gilling who have recently published an enthralling book entitled "Smack Express - How organised crime got hooked on drugs".

There is a saying, "Nothing in the world is free."

So even the Free Shuttle Bus in Parramatta is not free. It is paid for by the people – $1.5m from development applications related levies, and over $500,000 annually from parking meter revenue.

From such expenditure, did we really achieve value for money? Or was it a failure on the pretence that it was a Labor election promise delivered just before the local government election?