Corruption watchdog on the scent
DESPITE the cries of foul play by senior National and Liberal Party members, the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption is working.
Retiring deputy NSW Premier John Barilaro summed it up very succinctly. The ICAC has done its job well. He said that it has made a few small mistakes, but otherwise is fulfilling its role.
The Australian public is repeatedly told by the federal government that if we have done nothing wrong then we have nothing to worry about as the government seeks to step up community surveillance. Fair enough, but why does the Coalition government fight so hard to stop the creation of a federal ICAC to watch over politicians and, when it does propose one, it is nothing but a toothless tiger, we are supposed to say OK?
Federal politicians should be on notice that 60 per cent of Australians support the creation of a federal ICAC that has the resources and powers to hold all accountable, including politicians.
Ray Marsh Primrose Sands
UTTER CONTEMPT
FORMER NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian’s resignation from parliament within an hour of being notified by the Independent Commission Against Corruption that she was the subject of investigation, and not to step aside while the investigation was being conducted, is quite extraordinary.
Speculation that Berejiklian may run for the Sydney northern beaches federal seat of Warringah, currently held by independent Zali Steggall (and previously for 26 years by former prime minister Tony Abbott), seems to be a confusing juxtaposition of political motives.
ICAC has predictably been attacked from both sides of parliament, including the outgoing federal Labor member for Hunter, Joel Fitzgibbon, and Naeconomic
tional Party Leader/Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, who claimed the “people should be the final arbiter” (I am sure former state Labor NSW legislative councillor Eddie Obeid would agree with Joyce’s comments).
A federal national integrity commission must be established, otherwise the federal system of parliament is treating the Australian people with total contempt without transparency and accountability.
A WEALTHY CABAL
Kenneth Gregson Swansea
A GENERATION ago in Australia and in the rest of the euphemistically referred to advanced economies, there began a great economic upheaval, out of which emerged a growing financial aristocracy,
addicted to corporate socialism and a vast class of economic serfs, left to the cruel winds of globalism.
This emerging financial aristocracy used its economic power to oblige governments, in what can only be described as an obscenity, whereby the tax system was skewed in their favour, at the expense of the rest of the population and in opposition to the best interests of their respective societies.
As a consequence, a generation approaching and in early adulthood is left indebted, unable to afford housing and unable to obtain secure or well-paid employment. The middle class was squeezed, corporatism was let loose, and the institutions controlling the financial system became the casino of the well-todo underwritten by the taxpayer.
Asset price inflation disguised as
growth is the prevailing mantra of clueless governments, where the skewed taxation system sends wealth upstairs to the well-heeled, while the economic serfs below struggle to make ends meet.
In Australia one would expect, as was the case in the early 1970s, that the Opposition would seize the cudgel and make mincemeat of this clueless government, as Whitlam did all those years ago. But no, this clueless government is being let off the hook by a Clayton’s Opposition whose policies are indistinguishable from the government’s. Jon Jovanovic
Lenah Valley
JEALOUS OF LIBERALS
THE only reason Labor, the Greens and the independents are so upset about the political donations issue is that they are jealous of the amounts donated to the Liberal Party. Why anyone would donate to the Greens, a party of two, or Labor, who have done nothing lately other than factional infighting and deposing their party leader for the old leader, no political rung on the board there in relation to their voters or donators.
As for the independents, they have to rely on association with other parties to be effective, so why donate to them? What does it matter who donates what to whom. It is a donation, not a political bribe. Individuals and businesses will donate to the party or person they feel has the best chance to make things happen in Tasmania. If Labor, the Greens, independents and obscure political parties want more donations to help with their electioneering, they need to attract more donators, and until they can show they are an effective alternative to the Liberal Party, their political war chests will remain empty.
Alan Leitch Austins Ferry