2010-02-11

NSW a basketcase of corruption! says Premier

Flipping through Google news, I read the following article from a Leader/News Limited "local" online paper, the Penrith Press. They have a spot below articles for our comments, so...., I commented....

Here's the PP article, and my comments:

Premier gives ‘full support’ to embattled Penrith MP Karyn Paluzzano

PREMIER Kristina Keneally has thrown her support behind Penrith State Labor MP Karyn Paluzzano in the wake of fraud claims that have rocked her political career.
Mrs Paluzzano has vigorously denied claims she fiddled employee time sheets and asked them to make up work hours by doorknocking during her re-election campaign.
The complaint, made by a former staffer, has been referred to the Independent Commission Against Corruption.
Mrs Paluzzano said the former employee made false allegations she would “vigorously defend” herself against.
“These allegations were made by a former staff member and are totally false,” a statement from her office said. “That person is the subject of an investigation by an independent investigator appointed by the NSW Parliament.”
Mrs Paluzzano referred the staff member to the parliamentary Speaker over workplace matters in December.
On Wednesday, Ms Keneally said Mrs Paluzzano, the parliamentary secretary for education and training, had her “full support” and would not be asked to stand down from her position.
“She is strenuously rejecting these claims,” Ms Keneally said.
“I understand that the person who made these claims to ICAC is the subject of an independent investigation by the NSW Parliament.”
Ms Keneally said MPs and public servants should always be held to account on the highest standards and she supported the ICAC’s independence and the right for anyone to refer a complaint to the corruption watchdog.
“The blunt reality is this: MPs and senior public servants are vulnerable to the extraordinary publicity that follows a referral to ICAC,” she said.
“However, MPs and public servants are entitled to due process and should not be made victims of vexatious complaints.
“Today it is a Labor MP. Tomorrow it could be a Liberal or National MP. I would support the same presumption of innocence in similar circumstances for Opposition members as I do ... for Karyn Paluzzano.”

Copied from: http://penrith-press.whereilive.com.au/news/story/premier-gives-full-support-to-embattled-penrith-mp-karyn-paluzzano/

MY COMMENTS:

The 1st words in the last line in the article, about say it all!

“Today it is a Labor MP. Tomorrow it could be a Liberal or National MP."

NSW is a basket-case of corruption, & always has been.

ICAC is yet another "Rum Corps" Kangaroo court, and shows us that NSW, along with all others in Australia, is a failed state.

Premier Keneally is a stand-in, until the next election, when Labor will be trounced.

Only hope for 21C Australia is abandonment of 3-tier system, and a total rearrangement of govt and revenue base, founded 1st on Sound Environmental Laws.

No-one in ANY NSW parliament can fix the depth of problems the state faces, so it's either "all-is-lost, thence the-devil-may-care!", or "a nationwide Democratic Green Revolution" toward Agrarian Justice, as 1st planned here, & akin to that ideal of Thomas Paine in 1797 France!

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