The putrefaction appears to have begun during the dismal Howard years from 1996 onwards, with the rise to prominence of George Brandis, Arthur Sinodinos, Kevin Andrews, Joe Hockey and Tony Abbott. During the 11 years and 8 months of the former Howard Government, 12 Liberal ministers lost their positions because of integrity failures: Jim Short, Brian Gibson, Bob Woods , Geoff Prosser, David Jull, Warwick Parer, Peter Reith, Michael Wooldridge, Bill Heffernan, Ian Campbell, Wilson Tuckey and Santo Santoro. Departures of six of these – Woods, Parer, Wooldridge, Reith, Heffernan and Tuckey – were pragmatically delayed, but were forced removals nonetheless. At least another four ministers weren’t sacked but clearly should have been — Helen Coonan, Phillip Ruddock, De-Anne Kelly and Alexander Downer. In contrast, the five years and nine months of the Rudd/Gillard governments saw just the one minister resign over ethical matters — Joel Fitzgibbon. Yet they tell us there is no issue with corruption in the Liberal Party, just look over there theres nothing to see here. I am sure that Murdoch and co will be more than happy to continue to give them assistance in distracting the Australian voters. Open and transparent theyre not. independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/liberal-party-corruption-stench-grows,7031
Posted on: Sat, 25 Oct 2014 10:04:39 +0000