Monday 29th of April 2024
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crook as rookwood .....

crook as rookwood .....

from Crikey .....

If voters can't trust their government to give them the full story how can they trust them enough to vote them back into power?

That's the question that the Keneally government faces in light of the extraordinary events in NSW since parliament was prorogued in December, events that have been partially eclipsed by a combination of Christmas holidays and devastating floods.

And we can only presume that that's exactly what the Keneally government wants.

As our reporter Matthew Knott writes today, "...court summons will be issued this week in a bid to force the eight former directors who quit in protest over the privatisation of NSW electricity assets to appear before an upper house inquiry into the controversial sell off. The legal action should finally resolve whether witnesses at the inquiry are covered by parliamentary privilege despite the fact parliament has been prorogued (shut down) until after the state election.

If the upper house General Purposes Standing Committee's subpoenas are upheld in court then the former Eraring and Delta directors will appear before the committee next Monday."

In the meantime, this morning we heard from the Premier herself, who, asked during this morning's inquiry what she thought of the directors being summonsed to appear on January 24, said, "I have no qualms about what the directors might say and I think it would be a loss for democracy if ... this needs to end up in courts," she said.

Keneally also said she would not recall Parliament to ensure the directors were protected by privilege, labelling it "unnecessary", and then refused to guarantee the government would not take legal action against the directors, saying she feared that what they could say may affect the ongoing second tranche of the sell-off.

The NSW government may have exercised their right to prorogue, but that won't stop voters exercising their right to boot them out come March. That still leaves plenty of time for the Keneally government to fundamentally damage voter faith in their system of government.

 

and so say all of us .....

NSW Premier Kristina Keneally says she is fed up with the self-indulgent behaviour of Labor MPs and their staff following the latest scandal to engulf her damaged government.

After the arrest on Friday night of Matthew Chesher - a longtime Labor staffer and husband of Education Minister Verity Firth - over the purchase of an ecstasy tablet, Ms Keneally said today she was "furious" over the new crisis.

"I have run out of patience for self-indulgent behaviour," she told reporters this morning at the opening of the Inner-West Busway.

Keneally fed-up with 'self-indulgent behaviour'

the promised land .....

NSW Premier Kristina Keneally has launched her re-election pitch to Labor's heartland in western Sydney, apologising that her government had "lost its way" and promising to return it to a focus on core Labor values.

Addressing a packed auditorium at the Casula Powerhouse, Ms Keneally unveiled a $913 million package of election promises entitled "Fairness for Families".

Labor pledges to cut family living costs

bad luck Kristina; unfortunately for you, the people of NSW already know the value of Labor 'promises' .....

When Labor won office in NSW in 1995, it was on the back of the mother of all election promises.

To the delight of voters in western Sydney, then opposition leader Bob Carr promised to scrap tolls on the M4 and M5 motorways. As a result, Labor picked up two Liberal-held seats, Badgerys Creek and the Blue Mountains, and snuck over the line by the narrowest margin.

But no sooner had the result been declared than then premier Carr announced that unforeseen taxation issues meant that the government could no longer afford to fund the promise even though it had been ticked off by accountants KPMG Peat Marwick.

Labor's long and winding road toll