The voters of NSW have had to endure a long and painful ICAC investigation into Labor Party corruption in the State. Daily, the illegality of Macdonald, Obeid and other Labor Party notables were front page news. Add to this the Federal Labor member, Craig Thomson’s criminal activities and you certainly have a sorry state of affairs.
The only surprise at the 2011 State election was not that Labor was decisively swept from office, that was a foregone conclusion, but the fact that they retained a hand full of seats.
Barry O’Farrell marched into Mac Street looking every bit the “New Messiah” for NSW. Compared to the departing mob, Barry looked positively virtuous, leading a team of equally virtuous Coalition members, ready, willing and able to form a government of honesty. The state seemed to have shed it gang of criminals and replaced them with a new government of decency. One the people of the state could depend upon. Barry promised jut that, fair and honest government.
Fast forward to 2014, and oh! The disappointment. Like so many Labor Party members before them, we now have Liberal Party members and associates, lining up to front the ICAC on corruption chargers. The first big gun to front will be Chris Hartcher, and then will come other Liberal MP’s Chris Spence and Darren Webber and who knows, who else will follow. The “New Messiah” is looking rather tarnished as he fails to explain claims he misled Parliament and breached his own code of conduct over contact with businessman Nick Di Girolamo, who is also the subject of a corruption investigation.
Is this the best the people of NSW can expect from the Labor and Liberal Parties? I think ‘Its Time” to look to third parties and Independents to restore honesty and integrity to the government of NSW. The party with the runs on the board on that score is The Greens with their outstanding members in the Legislative Council along with the Member for Balmain Jamie Parker they have worked tirelessly as Don Chipp famously said “To keep the bastards honest”.

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/icac-finds-links-between-chris-hartcher-and-eddie-obeid-20140221-337fy.html

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-31/icac-findings-released/4855128

paul..the problem..is the party system
loyalty to the party brand..is treason

sure we need better govt..but party loyalty HAS TO GO
[I FIGURE..HOW WE NOW..pay..per vote recieved/thAT WE VOTE specifically..for who gets how much of our money/

sO say..your fair share..of govt BUDGET
is a dividend/..THEN you vote for who spends IT FOR YOU..
it will see a lot less SPENT..ON SPORT..AND MORE SPENT ON TEETH.

govt is too big..smaller council level of govt[service delivery]
but run by school district..WE VOTE..WHICH school distrust..gets what

regardless the current party system..has hijacked govt
TOO MANY noses in the trough/but govt could sTOP GIVING MATES/our resorcES..and mine them..for our bennifits..[likE CANADA DOES ?]

REGArdless i recall anna blight[who finished up sending qld/inc broke..ie what peter beatup began/she went to china/with CLIVE PALMER..TO SIGN [underwrite]..just ONE..mINE..[THAT BY ITSELF..WAS EQUAL THE CURRENT STATE DEBT/at the time..

GOVT SHould be organising what capitalists now are doing
but doing it fOR THE STATE..NOT THE MATE.

Dear Paul,

This is rather depressing to say the least
and of course it is a bad look for the Liberal Party.
Any time that any misconduct rears its head for any
political party, their opponents are apt to leap on
the allegations and milk them for all they're worth.
Call me naive, I still prefer to believe that the
majority of politicians are honest and spend their
time doing exactly what they're meant to - and that
is representing their voters.

Paul, have you ever found yourself in a situation whereby you have to fix something , that someone else broke, and you now have no money to fix it.

This is the situation in QLD, it is also the situation in federal politics and perhaps in NSW as well.

Incompetence and gross waste and miss management is a very difficult culture to follow and that means that the less money new governments have, the longer the grind will take.

God help us if we have changes to both QLD and federal next elections because labor couldn't run the country/state with money,so who knows what they will do without it.

Dear rehctub,

Honest people may not have money to burn but neither
do they get burned by greed for money and power.
It is very important therefore for citizens to have access
to information so that they can make informed choices.
And we need good, vigilant, and ethical journalism
more than ever in this day and age. It is therefore also
important that the media is not in the hands on one
ownership and governments don't hide behind veils of
secrecy. If citizens are given false or misleading
information or are not told the truth the democratic
process becomes a sham as under such circumstances the
people cannot use their rights in a meaningful way.

Paul you no doubt saw my posted link in another thread.
After reading Rechtubs comments it never was more needed highlighting that is, the free ride Murdock has given second grade Lib/Nats actions.
A seeming wish to hide such is seen here and it betrays us all
Consider this, if we except second grade from our team, but flog the others for similar acts we weaken our own side.
Remember too, pollys most definitely do, NSW not long ago a swamp, yet so bad has Barry o,farells team been a real chance he is a one term-er is now a possibility.

We must develop clear eyes sight and demand better from our separate sides or stop expecting better.