Labor and Greens say more than 90 per cent of the $140 million funding round went to Coalition-held seats and councils ahead of the 2019 state election source
Always had a problem with what passes for Justice in this country. What is stated plainly seems to become a whole nother* thing when applied to the class closest to that of the Judiciary. Then there’s the treatment of the accused by the Police.
Anyone who’s been present at protests and picket lines has witnessed or experienced the negative treatment from Police when a political issue clashes with State orthodoxy. Seems only Nazis get the kid gloves treatment from the Police.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't remember this sort of intimidation & violence from the Police when the Alt-Right (Nazis) were gathering.
Nor calls from the Federal Secret Police Minister Dutton to have "welfare payments cut" & "mandatory jail sentences" imposed. https://t.co/OTTbDKLYH5
— Mick Lawless – Planetary Patriot 🌏 ⏳ 🐨 🇵🇸 (@motorcymick) October 29, 2019
As well, there is the way matters are dealt with in the mainstream media ensuring that government/corporate interests are given priority over facts.
Two-tier Justice system
Allegedly steal a chocolate Freddo bar and if you’re a 12-year-old Aboriginal child you are arrested and locked in a prison cell. Whereas a politician can steal millions by betraying the Public Trust and look forward to a tax-paid retirement and a sinecure after politics employed by the beneficiaries of their corrupt behaviour.
There is a correlation between class, race and “Justice” that is plain to see. We all know the Law is not so much blind as one-eyed.
A political class that make laws and recommends High Court Judges (through the Governor General) add yet another layer of influence challenging the much-vaunted purity of Legal objectivity.
Even religion comes into play…
The infamous Red Mass dates back to the 13th century
…as in the Pell case, where we were assured his appeal wouldn’t get up and then, that his appeal wouldn’t succeed, prior to Pell being freed.
“Whichever way you look at it, Pell and his legal team face a Herculean task to achieve any positive outcome for him. Although it is not impossible, the job is certainly a formidable one.
Like any appellant in a criminal case, once the jury’s verdict is in, there is no longer a presumption of innocence and the odds are very much stacked against you.”
– Tom Percy a Perth (Western Australia) Queen’s Counsel
Laws are like cobwebs…
…which may catch small flies, but let wasps and hornets break through ***(Jonathan Swift, 1667 – 1745)
So given the societal constraints to objectivity inherent in the Law (and remembering that Australian Law was established atop genocidal invasion and land theft) it was unsurprising to see a politician who had publicly admitted using taxpayer’s monies to influence an election, not only walking around free but still in a position of power.
“The Premier has made an extraordinary admission revealing she believes political pork barrelling is OK. Destroyed documents have now been recovered showing she personally approved spending tens of millions of dollars just on Liberal seats.”
The destroyed documents being…
“…those shown to Premier Gladys Berejiklian to approve a council grants program favouring Coalition-held seats, an NSW parliamentary inquiry has heard.
Sarah Lau, one of Ms Berejiklian’s senior policy advisers, said the working advice notes were used to rubber-stamp the projects, and paper copies were later shredded and digital copies deleted.” source
Destroying the evidence of her corruption (what else is it) is the act of a criminal who knows they’ve committed a crime.
“…the NSW Parliament’s upper house voted to force the premier’s office to undertake a forensic document recovery to find the electronic versions of the briefing notes.”
The premier’s admission comes as those documents were released.” (source)
A pattern has emerged of Gladys only coming clean about her subterfuges after she faces exposure. The ICAC investigation was the only reason Ms Berejiklian divulged her love affair with the less than politically savoury Daryl Maguire.
“Ms Berejiklian has been facing calls to resign after revealing her long-term relationship with the disgraced Liberal MP Daryl Maguire, who is the current target of a state corruption inquiry and was forced to quit Parliament in 2018 over another scandal.”
Mr Maguire a corrupt individual who was arranging property deals for commission as a backbencher resigned from Parliament in disgrace in 2018.
Ms Berejiklian confirmed at the ICAC corruption inquiry that she had been in a relationship with Daryl Maguire since 2015 until a few months ago.
She claimed it wasn’t an “intimate relationship” – but a “close personal relationship” a necessary lie, because under the NSW’s ministerial code of conduct, she would be in breach for not disclosing an intimate relationship.
So Gladys had a secret love affair for five years with a former politician who was sacked for corruption but we’re supposed to believe it was all above board and not an intimate relationship? She later stated, “she had been in love with Maguire and thought they “could” eventually marry.”
That this bollocks is even presented as a defence, demonstrates how confident Gladys is, that her deceit and refusal to disclose the relationship with her corrupt lover, will get a pass.
Legal stuff – Highly interpretative – (unless you’re poor, then it’s damning)
A legal layperson like myself might believe a crime has been committed, when a politician **steals tens of millions of taxpayer’s monies from those with legitimate need and gifts it to those in marginal seats for electoral (personal) gain.
“We’ve had the Premier all year ducking and weaving, trying to deny her role in approving these projects,” Mr Shoebridge said.
“We now have it in black and white that the Premier was approving project after project after project. (source)
Sections 7,8 & 9 of the ICAC Act
“The broad range of criminal offences that might be considered in relation to a finding of corrupt conduct is indicated by the list of 25 offences in section 8(2) of the ICAC Act. These include official misconduct, bribery, fraud, election funding offences, perverting the course of justice, tax evasion, bankruptcy, illegal drug dealings, and homicide or violence.” Source
Seems to me that Ms Berejiklian has abused her public office.
142.2 Abuse of public office
(1) A Commonwealth public official is guilty of an offence if:
(a) the official:
(i) exercises any influence that the official has in the official’s capacity as a Commonwealth public official; or
(ii) engages in any conduct in the exercise of the official’s duties as a Commonwealth public official; or
(iii) uses any information that the official has obtained in the official’s capacity as a Commonwealth public official; and
(b) the official does so with the intention of:
(i) dishonestly obtaining a benefit for himself or herself or for another person; or
(ii) dishonestly causing a detriment to another person.
Penalty: Imprisonment for 5 years.
(2) A person is guilty of an offence if:
(a) the person has ceased to be a Commonwealth public official in a particular capacity; and
(b) the person uses any information that the person obtained in that capacity as a Commonwealth public official; and
(c) the person does so with the intention of:
(i) dishonestly obtaining a benefit for himself or herself or for another person; or
(ii) dishonestly causing a detriment to another person.
Penalty: Imprisonment for 5 years.
(3) Paragraph (2)(a) applies to a cessation by a person:
(a) whether or not the person continues to be a Commonwealth public official in some other capacity; and
(b) whether the cessation occurred before, at or after the commencement of this section.
It’s obvious to any reasonable person that Gladys used her public office to dishonestly obtain electoral benefits for herself and her party and that the people who missed out on a fair distribution of the grant monies suffered detriment.
Gladys Public confession of her “pork barreling” (stealing public monies to distribute for electoral gain) should be the cherry on top for those charged with protecting the Public from corruption.
The only legal opinion I could muster (two Sydney Law Firms did not respond to my interrogatives) was a Crikey article that stated…
Happily, I’d already come to similar conclusions.
Corruption writ large
‘…the more complex the network of social interaction and the more complicated and diverse the ways that tangible benefits can be exchanged, the less likely it is that particular actions can clearly be labelled ‘“corrupt”’. source
Recently, the State’s Archives and Record Authority described “her office’s unlawful shredding of documents on awarding grants, including some potentially related to former Wagga MP Daryl Maguire” as a “misunderstanding”.
Sure it was! You rubber-toothed watchdog you.
It’s clear the corruption we have witnessed in NSW for so long, couldn’t exist, never mind thrive, without a host of complacent, politicised or complicit watchdogs.
Gladys has presided over a host of shonky deals (the ones we know of) since becoming NSW Premier.
Sans obfuscating lawyers, the laws are fairly straight forward and Gladys hasn’t presented anything like a defence apart from “it’s not illegal”.
However, despite Gladys’ confession of criminality, the exposure of her lies and the blatant attempt at a coverup, thanks to a politicised mainstream media and whatever it is that ails the Federal Labor opposition…
…Gladys remains at large, proving the best legal defence in Australia is being rich, white, influential and part of the most corrupt governance since the NSW Rum Corps.
Footnotes * “nother” dates back to the early 14th century ** “steals” – not “redirects”, “rorts” and other forgiving euphemisms *** Jonathan Swift, 1667 – 1745 – My hero for decades |
Related
‘Pork barrelling at its absolute worst’: How NSW ministers splashed $44m arts cash on Coalition seats
The NSW premier says pork-barrelling isn’t breaking the law. We put that to the test
Found on Twitter
Reading @emfarrelly's new book and keep coming back to this statistic:
In the six years btw 2011-2017, Govts in NSW sold off some $53 billion worth of public assets to private concerns.Are we better off for it? #nswpol
— Wendy Harmer (@wendy_harmer) January 27, 2021
Teflon Gladys: Inquiry Hears Fresh Evidence of Corruption
Pork barrelling is ‘what elections are for’: John Barilaro defends bushfire grants
Gladys Berejiklian intervened in $5.5m grant pursued by Daryl Maguire
An interesting and thorough article Mick. Why isn’t Daryl MacGuire in jail? ICAC recommended charges in March.
It’s a good question – and even more has emerged – https://twitter.com/abcnews/status/1424455508103073792?s=20
YES OF COURSE GLADY BEREJIKLIAN GO TO JAIL FOR 90 YEARS BETTER!!!