If there is a political stain that has become more repugnant than the stain on Monica Lewinsky’s cocktail dress, it is the stain left on Australian politics by corruption allegations.
We all remember the corruption allegations scandal that helped bring down the NSW Labor government.
I recall their being an air of disbelief that there could be that much corruption in a state government and the names Obeid, Tripodi, McDonald and Kelly became names of notoriety.
Now we have Liberal Government in NSW and things have gotten even worse. Much worse.
After not even one term in government the Coalition in NSW have been exposed as the most corrupt government in our nation’s history.
So far the revelations uncovered by the Independent Commission Against Corruption has seen nine Coalition MP’s resign or say they won’t stand again. It has even seen the resignation of former Premier Barry O’Farrell. Actually the Liberal Party in NSW has seen both the leaders of the upper house and lower house of parliament stand down over evidence that has surfaced at ICAC hearings.
These are just the MP’s that have fallen on their sword, there are many others such as Former Attorney General Greg Smith and the factional power man David Clarke whose names have surfaced but have not had the decency to stand down or give a reasonable explanation.
New Premier Mike Baird was in the top job for less than 24 hours before as yet unexplained allegations of undisclosed donations from dodgy sources arose, as well as cushy appointments given to a campaign donor. It seems that there is nobody in the NSW Liberal Party that is untouched by this scandal.
The evidence that has been raised at ICAC in NSW has revolved around lobbyists, dodgy campaign donations, jobs for the boys, and people buying influence.
Little wonder Joe Hockey got all upset when Fairfax ran the headline:
“Treasurer For Sale”
Heaven forbid that someone would get the wrong impression of Joe.
Charging $22,000 for access to the Treasurer would clearly have nothing to do with buying influence, it is due to Joe’s charming personality. I’m sure if we looked into it people were paying $22K to chat with Joe when he was just a back bencher, or even before he became a politician.
Hockey is now suing Fairfax for the string of articles that put his actions under the microscope that was only meant for Labor MP’s.
Wanna chat? You’ll need a wallet this big…
ICAC has also seen two Federal members of parliament have their names dragged through the mud.
The electorate of Dobell has brought about yet another tainted vote in the form of Karen McNamara who has been accused of electoral fraud. She has also been linked with a slush fund and trust account that was used to launder illegal political donations and clean them up for disgraced NSW Liberal Chris Hartcher.
Our former Federal Assistant Treasurer Arthur Sinodinos was forced to resign from his position after being dragged into ICAC to explain his role in the Australia Water Holdings corruption scandal and his intended $20 Million pay-day.
Who can forget Fiona Nash?
Nash was censured in parliament after being found to have misled parliament in relation to her appointment of a lobbyist for the junk food industry as her Chief Of Staff. Given that Nash is the Assistant Health Minister that was always going to be an issue when discovered.
It was discovered after the former Chief Of Staff Alistair Furnival and Nash shut down a new website that rated food on its health value, something that was not going to see Furnival’s clients rate real well.
Furnival was also involved in lobbying for Cadbury so they could handouts from the taxpayer via the Liberal Government.
Most would remember when Australian company SPC were hoping for government assistance in order to save jobs and the usual Liberal lies about unions and greedy employees came out. That was at the same time Employment Minister Eric Abetz was trying to justify the handout to the foreign-owned junk food giant Cadbury of $16 Million.
At the Cadbury factory, Furnival on the right. Tony Abbott and Eric Abetz have both denied they were holding hands
Speaking of Tony Abbott, we have also seen the man responsible for his personal campaign funding, John Caputo dragged through ICAC and emerge not looking real flash.
On top of that we have seen the man in charge of the Federal Liberal Parties fundraising Paul Nicolaou who is a lobbyist for the alcohol and gambling industry called before ICAC with disturbing allegations.
Even today new allegations have emerged of questionable funding from extremely questionable friends.
It seems the proceeds of organised crime may have found their way into the Liberal Party coffers.
Fairfax has revealed that one of the hosts at the “Bruce Campaign Fundraising Dinner” and a bankroller of the campaign for the Liberal Party in a marginal Victorian seat is a Mafia kingpin and suspected Godfather. Police have described the man as allegedly being involved in “murder, gunshot wounding and arson” and has been named as the suspected hitman at two coronial inquests.
Nice, just the kind of guy we like to see our politicians owing favours to.
Minister, I’m gonna make you an offer you can’t refuse…
We have also seen over the last couple of days that Abbott’s daughter was given a $60,000 scholarship, something that Abbott has failed to declare as a members interest despite it clearly being done as a political favour. It is a shame that the college does not award scholarships based on merit…
With all of this going on it is no wonder there are calls for a Federal version of ICAC to hold Federal politicians to account.
Clearly it is in the public’s best interest to have an independent body to ensure that the public aren’t been taken for a ride and that those elected to look after our needs aren’t just there serving their own interests.
Which brings me to Queensland Premier Campbell Newman.
It would seem that Campbell Newman has less than 25% of the personality or charm of Joe Hockey as an audience with the Coalitions Queensland Premier costs a cut-rate $5,000 it was revealed in a NSW ICAC hearing.
The state that was home of the infamous Fitzgerald Inquiry back in the 1980’s that took down the states most notorious Premier ever, Jo Bjelke-Petersen of the National Party has made some changes to the way it handles corruption allegations.
Queensland’s Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) has undergone a facelift under Campbell Newman and it is fair to say there is a great deal of apprehension about the changes, even from within the LNP.
The CMC has had a proud tradition of being an Independent body whose chairperson was selected in a bipartisan decision, this ensured that the prospect of bias or political favours being repaid was extremely remote.
Campbell Newman has utterly destroyed that tradition.
Settle down, nothing to see here…
The CMC will now have its chairperson appointed by the States Attorney General of the day which of course opens up questions of “jobs for the boys’ and political favours.
Queensland’s current LNP Attorney General Jarrod Bleijie has come out with a logic defying defence of his party’s position claiming that the CMC would remain a strong and independent watchdog.
About as independent as a political appointment by a political party can be I suppose…
The chairman of Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee, Ian Berry has also come out swinging stating:
“Bipartisanship was a different era – it was a time when there was corruption…”
“Times have moved on”
Those of us watching ICAC in NSW may beg to differ Mr Berry…
With all of the corruption surfacing in NSW and within Federal politics, destroying the corruption watchdog’s independence can only lead to one question.
Just what is Campbell Newman trying to hide?
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He must have a mountain of hiding to do. So much so that he will forget a little gem (or coal in this instance) that will be found by someone who shouldn’t find it and it will makes its way to the front page of every non Murdoch paper, the ABC and no doubt right here. Time will reveal all.
The Profit Imperative: Profit is the ultimate measure of all corporate decisions. It takes precedence over community well-being, worker health, public health, peace, environmental preservation or national security. Corporations will even find ways to trade with national “enemies”—Libya, Iran, the former Soviet Union, Cuba—when public policy abhors it. The profit imperative and the growth imperative are the most fundamental corporate drives; together they represent the corporation’s instinct to “live.”
The Growth Imperative: Corporations live or die by whether they can sustain growth. On this depends relationships to investors, to the stock market, to banks and to public perception. The growth imperative also fuels the corporate desire to find and develop scarce resources in obscure parts of the world.
This effect is now clearly visible, as the world’s few remaining pristine places are sacrificed to corporate production. The peoples who inhabit these resource-rich regions are similarly pressured to give up their traditional ways and climb on the wheel of production-consumption. Corporate planners consciously attempt to bring “less developed societies into the modem world” to create infrastructures for development, as well as new workers and new consumers. Corporations claim that they do this for altruistic reasons to raise the living standard—but corporations have no altruism.
Corporations can only do these things by “Owning” political parties and their leaders.
Great post, as usual, Peter. Thank you.
The Liberals & the LNP seem more putrid as each day goes by. The excuses for the Abbott government, by their rusted on fan base, are getting more & more feeble & thus they are becoming more virulent. Such an incestuous lot they are. Everyone is busy scratching everyone else’s back & scrambling for more power. Bugger the rest of us.