The Liberal Party has suddenly lost a five year political advantage in New South Wales, and there are likely to be more ramifications from ICAC than the resignation of Barry O'Farrell, writes Quentin Dempster.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption in New South Wales is turning into a subversive force.

To be 'subversive' in this context means to overthrow, overturn or upset the way government business is done in this jurisdiction.

Such is its current power through various tactics and coercive techniques, there is now a backlash. Because of this, the ICAC and its investigators cannot afford to make any mistakes. 

All the circumstances surrounding the resignation of NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell on Wednesday, after he dug himself into an evidentiary hole under oath, will be trawled through. Some news reports made it look like O'Farrell resigned only because he did not declare an expensive gift - a bottle of Grange - from a lobbyist. But there is more to it than that. 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-17/dempster-an-antidote-to-the-new-south-wales-disease/5397352

 

Factional warring threatened to break out within the NSW Liberal Party if Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian, a warrior of the party's left-wing, became premier.

Just as Barry O'Farrell knew he risked being undermined by the right wing of his party if he stood as opposition leader after the resignation of Liberal Party leader John Brogden in 2005, Berejiklian stepped aside for the sake of party unity.

She formed a "unity ticket" with Treasurer Mike Baird, making way for him to be elected as premier unopposed.

While Mr Baird is said to be philosophically aligned with Berejiklian's faction, known as the moderates, he is also supported by the right wing of the party. The right wing views Baird as a successful Treasurer, having maintained the state's triple A credit rating. He is conservative in his economics, has a strong Christian faith, but is also progressive in social views on issues such as the treatment of asylum seekers.

The right wing of the Liberal Party is split into three sub-factions. The soft right is understood to include Wollondilly MP Jai Rowell and upper house MP Matthew Mason-Cox. The centre right is said to include Baulkham Hills MP David Elliott, Hawkesbury MP Ray Williams, Family and Community Services Minister Pru Goward and Charlestown MP Andrew Cornwell. The so-called hard right, or "religious right", is understood to include Energy and Resources Minister Anthony Roberts, Castle Hill MP Dominic Perrottet, upper house MP David Clarke, Attorney General Greg Smith, upper house MP Marie Ficarra and former Energy and Resources Minister Chris Hartcher.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/factional-battle-why-gladys-berejiklian-could-not-be-premier-20140417-36un3.html#ixzz2z8TZOfGv

 

 

The Barry O'Farrell resignation reminds us that the Liberal Party has no purpose other than to enrich its sponsors and mates, writes Bob Ellis.

Eighteen months ago, Pyne and Abbott ran out of the chamber to avoid the toxic vote of a man who had spent $6,000 inappropriately.

On Thursday, O’Farrell vacated his position, the second most important in the land, because of $3,000 spent inappropriately on a bottle of wine.

Four years ago, Belinda Neal lost her seat because she said ‘Do you know who I am?’ to a Woy Woy waiter inappropriately, amid headlines bellowing ‘Iguanagate’, over what was no more, in the end, than a tone of voice.

These political events have a common cause — the Karl Rove/Roger Ailes Method of raising devils over small things, and the devils are now devouring the Liberal Party.

Mike Baird cannot now have long as leader after Sarah Ferguson asked him did Nick Di Girolamo give him campaign money and get from him, in return, a job he couldn’t do very well; the same Nick Di Girolamo who spent buckets of money on lavish living — taxpapers’ money, that is.

Arthur Sinodinos cannot now have long as a Senator after accepting from Nick Di Girolamo $20 million dollars if he ‘persuaded’ O’Farrell to give their sewage company a contract.

Hockey and Abbott may not have long as MPs if, as is likely, Di Girolamo gave money to their campaigns, money stolen, that is, from the New South Wales taxpayer. The vultures are circling, the jackals detect the smell of blood on the wind, and the Liberal Party itself may not survive the year.

For the Liberal Party is the Lobbyists’ Party, it has no other moral purpose any more. It is there to give contracts to mates who build the airport, and the roads to and from it, and positions to crooks like Di Girolamo who kick back money to it.

Nick Greiner, wonderfully, said on Thursday that "of course" he would have accepted a $3,000 bottle of wine, it was how lobbying worked, by which he meant how bribery worked.

He thus reminds us of the billions Howard tried to dropkick to Doug Moran, a donor, in varied fees for his old age homes, and the $298 million dollars Downer and Vaile gave to Saddam Hussein to ‘smooth the passage’ of Australian wheat to Ba’athist flour mills in Iraq. And, of course, the $5,000 you had to pay, once, to get through Mayor Campbell Newman’s door.

It’s what Abbott means by "open for business". It’s in the Liberals’ DNA. They are the Lobbyists’ Party, the mates’ rates party, the kickback party.

 

They have no other meaning.

Privatisation is a kickback. A bottle of wine is a kickback. It’s what, as Greiner foolishly boasts, they do.

And it’s the party that’s now inviting us to "share the pain" and sack, say, Sarah Ferguson to "balance the books". It’s hard, after Grangegate, for Hockey to do this, or persuade Clive Palmer – a former donor, aggrieved now – to let the Budget through.

All self-righteousness has gone from the Liberals’ armoury now and it was the biggest weapon they had. They now must explain why a search for MH370 was worth it, worth the money in hundreds of millions, and saving Holden wasn’t. Holden didn’t grease their palms enough, perhaps, with money donated to their campaign in, say, 2010.

http://www.independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/grangegate-and-the-lobbyists-party,6396

 

 

 

From vino expert, Mike Carlton

 

Tasting Notes: The 1959 Chateau d'icac.

Celebrated vigneron Nick Di Girolamo has excelled himself with this rare and striking Premier Grand Cru. Selected from old grapes of wrath vines at the Obeid family's Mt Corruption vineyard in NSW and cellared in Rum Corps oak casks, the wine reveals hidden gifts of subtle complexity.

The brown nose offers a concentrated aroma of decaying cattle dung, complexed by persistent spice notes of rotten fish and more than a hint of unsavoury greased palm. An intense palate of bitter fruits displays weak backbone and piss-in-pocket acidity, with a lingering after-palate heightened by a signed "thank you" note of unmistakeable provenance.

A wine not to be forgotten.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/barry-ofarrells-true-fault-was-failing-to-root-out-corruption-in-the-nsw-liberals-20140417-zqvzf.html#ixzz2zHFQeNQF

I must say I was waiting for someone to write the tasting notes of this 1959 grand cru. I was too lazy myself to push pen on paper to make any succinct sense of the complexity of the flavours... 
And a point in my favour was that I have been following the buttocks and balls tour down under by the little royals. The tour started well with the tattooed buttocks of a Maori warrior in Noozealand. Then we had the balls, of a horny ram, the size of footballs at the royal easter caper visit (as exposed by Mr Marr). This was of course followed by the raising of humpteen red budgie smugglers at Manly beach where the new premier, Mike, is a republican member of the surf and turf  — jellyfish and porkie section — club. Of course the royal brown-nosing primal minster is also a member of this turf, where jumping in the water for charity is followed by the traditional invoicing of the government for expenses. 
Meanwhile I saw a new word yesterday flying pass my window: ABBOTTSPHERE.  it could sound like someone having a cold trying to say "atmosphere", but no, it's a legit word in its own right: It means the climate in a non-global-warming situation as promoted by George Brandis and his boss of course...
In regard to the budgie smugglers, one must say it was a shame there was no surf boat race during the little royals visit. Then the red (or black) budgie smugglers are tucked neatly inside the buttocks crack by the rowers as not to get chafing from the seat that would make their bum end up looking like bleeding tattoos on the buttocks of a Noozealander Maori.... Geronimo! as Doctor Who would say...

 

from Bruce Hawker

 

The Coalition whinging about Icac is nothing new

Icac has taken out another senior Tory, just as it has properly destroyed the career of quite a few Labor politicians. Can anyone argue NSW would be better without it?

 

 

It had to happen. After last week's controversy which led to the resignation of Barry O'Farrell, we started hearing complaints and calls from the Coalition for the corruption watchdog's powers to be reduced. This is not new: it happened very early in Icac's life.

Back in 1990 and in its first inquiry, the commission investigated donations from land developers on the NSW north coast. In his report, the Icac deputy commissioner Adrian Roden QC reported no "proper basis for a finding involving dishonesty", but found against various MPs for "creating a climate conducive to corruption". Among the MPs named were the leader of the National party and deputy premier, the late Wal Murray, the current minister for local government, Don Page, as well as other National party MPs. As with the current Icac investigation, there was a bipartisan element to the scandal, with two Labor backbenchers also implicated.

As soon as Roden's report came down, Murray and his parliamentary colleagues launched a broadside against the body they had helped establish just a year before. As chief of staff to then opposition leader Bob Carr, I watched with a mix of bemusement and amusement as they fulminated, like Dr Frankenstein, against the monster who was meant to destroy Labor, not their own.

Icac was the brainchild of the Liberal attorney general and later supreme court judge John Dowd, and Nick Greiner's adviser and corruption chaser, Gary Sturgess. I came to know Sturgess in later years, and I respect his intellect and sincerity as a policy reformer. In 1989 though, with Labor now in opposition and on the back foot over some of the things that had happened in its 13 years in office, Icac was seen by many in the party as a vehicle for the Greiner government to mount an ongoing attack on Labor identities. It would, they said, be a standing royal commission into Labor.

There was some basis for this concern: when he introduced the Icac legislation, Dowd got caught in a slanging match with Labor's street fighting shadow attorney general, Paul "Benny" Whelan. When Whelan interjected on Dowd, the attorney general lost his cool and said that Icac would be spending a lot of its time investigating Labor. This exposed Dowd to the claim that the Liberals wanted to politicise an independent body.

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/22/the-coalition-whinging-about-icac-is-nothing-new

 Sean Nicholls’ interesting article, ‘‘Onward Christian soldiers: a premier’s faith” (April 26-27), hints at the contradictory nature of the role Mike Baird’s religious beliefs play in governing the state.

Mr Baird claims that his religious beliefs will not influence the way he or his cabinet will govern – “I don’t go into Parliament and seek to legislate that. I’ll respond on the basis of conscience.” But surely a Christian’s conscience is largely influenced by the ethical content of the Bible? Mr Baird claims that “I govern for everyone”, but this is manifestly false. The article points out that he opposes same-sex marriage, despite poll after poll showing a clear majority of voters supporting it. Why does Mr Baird oppose it then? Forget about an individual secular conscience – he opposes it because of his religious beliefs.

Mr Baird should have stuck with his desire to become an Anglican minister. In politics it may not be the case that you serve either God or mammon but it’s a pretty close run thing.

Ronald Binder Hurstville

How scary to read that Mike Baird is another leader governed by religion. We’ve seen the impact from those other leaders and self-proclaimed religious faithful, Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison and their cruel treatment of refugees. We can only wonder what NSW is in for.

As I was once wisely advised, if your neighbour says they’re Christian, brand your calves early.

Victor Marshall Erskineville

 

I see that a wave of pro-Christianity campaigning is sweeping into the corridors of NSW government. Politics should always remain secular and I believe this intrusion by Premier Mike Baird’s chief-of-staff, Bay Warburton, in virtually preaching to school students, is wrong and outrageous.

I would like to publicly disassociate myself from this unwelcome government bias.

Leicester Warburton Cremorne

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/smh-letters/god-help-us-if-these-are-the-politicians-leading-us-20140427-zr0c0.html#ixzz307fKriaZ

There's nothing wrong with religious education, but it shouldn't come from believers who want to save your kid's soul. Stop trying to trick parents into signing up for sermons, writes Jeff Sparrow.

Here's a moral question for you. Is it right to trick parents into sending kids to scripture classes?

That's the issue posed by NSW Premier Mike Baird's proposal to remove reference to ethics classes on school enrolment forms, leaving parents unaware of their right to opt out of the scripture lessons presented in Special Religious Education (SRE).

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the Reverend John Dickson, director of the Centre for Public Christianity, and Simon Longstaff from the St James Ethics Centre have jointly penned a letter slamming Baird's plan as "misleading and deceptive".

Baird denies being motivated by a desire to curry favour with the Reverend Fred Nile. Nile is a longtime critic of secular ethics classes; the NSW government wants his support for electricity privatisation.

read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-05/sparrow-scripture-lessons-by-stealth/6525006