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| (Sydney Morning Herald) |
His performance as Premier of New South Wales is a matter of personal opinion but whether you feel he is one of the best or one of the worst Premiers of New South Wales no-one I know has ever suggested he has acted corruptly or is a shady character.
I feel for Barry O'Farrell. Giving misleading or false evidence to the Independent Commission Against Corruption is a criminal offence and so he has resigned after failing to remember - assuming that he isn't lying that it was a memory failure - that he received the gift of a $3,000 bottle of wine. Why he didn't at least register the gift at the time remains a mystery.
The Opposition Leader, John Robertson, is still in his position even though he has previously admitted failing to report the offer a $3,000,000 bribe. But that wasn't a matter investigated by the ICAC.
Meanwhile the main players in the current and previous investigation by the ICAC into alleged corruption involving millions of dollars continue to go about their daily business smiling sickeningly in the public's face and wearing their allegedly corrupt behaviour almost as a badge of honour.
Justice, like politics, sometimes seems very dirty to me.
What a day it was. For a Tory, I didn't think he was a bad bloke. I heard him interviewed at length once about his life and it was very interesting. But he turned out to be a fool and I better not use the other word that starts with l, lest we be sued.
ReplyDeleteEven a non drinker like your good self would know what a bottle of Grange is and that it is worth a lot of money. That you also wrote a thank you note to the giver, would ensure it stuck in your mind.
That his cronies are defending him by saying how easy it is to forget receiving a gift is extraordinary.
One thing about politicians, they will all disappoint you sooner or later.
Andrew; two things.
DeleteFirst have you changed anything about how you comment on my blog? The reason I ask is because your comments have stopped appearing in my email account although the comments of others (such as I have any) still do.
Second on O'Farrell. I think he did and said some foolish things whilst in office; it is astonishing that so many politicians do. However I have some sympathy about his claim about memory failure even with him having written a thank you card. The reason for my sympathy is that I have such memory lapses myself.
One example; at a party in front of many guests a friend recounted how he had visited and stayed with me in China together with his father. My immediate response (unwisely) was to reply a little too abruptly that he had never visited me in China. Something in the way his wife looked at me made me think again and it was nearly an hour later before I had the image in my mind of opening my Beijing apartment door to him and his father. Otherwise I was certain they had never visited me there and to this day I cannot recall anything else about their visit.
Victor, no, I haven't changed anything. I wonder if this is happening to other blogs where I comment.
DeleteWhat was the period of time between China and the party? Three years as it was for the Grange? Unless you receive a bottle of Grange each month, it is not something you would forget.
I have memory lapses at times when R tells me something that happened in the past and I know he is right, but I can't remember. Mind, it works the other way too. People do remember some things and not other things. If the mention of his phone call to the person the day before did not trigger his memory, well what would? Yet even afterwards he stood outside the ICAC building doing a doorstop and denied receiving the wine. Sorry, I just don't don't believe O'Farrell.
Victor, justice, like politics always is very dirty to me it's defnitely true about my country.
ReplyDeleteYes Gosia it seems politicians the world over are very much the same.
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