Page 4872 - Week 13 - Thursday, 2 November 2017
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
The 2016 index of corruption by Transparency International states:
Corruption and inequality feed off each other, creating a vicious circle between corruption, unequal distribution of power in society, and unequal distribution of wealth.
Transparency International also say:
Corruption is the abuse of entrusted power for private gain. It can be classified as grand, petty and political, depending on the amounts of money lost and the sector where it occurs.
A slight perusal of Transparency International’s website would do some of those opposite the world of good, and it would be very handy if they were to pass on that link to some of their comrades.
Regarding Labor’s property development in Braddon, this deal stinks. The Labor Club did not pay a cent to change their lease. They did not pay a cent. How is it that you can go from a small commercial building to 36 apartments without paying a cent? That sounds dodgy, and it is dodgy when the government is also the decision-maker and in effect the developer. How would you like to be a development application assessor in the planning directorate and have that DA put in front of you? They have put that public servant in an impossible position. No public servant should ever be put in a position like that, where they have in effect got the weight of the government, the weight of the governing party, on their shoulders. It is bullying and it is intimidating.
Of course, the development happened, surely with the knowledge of the ministers. Soon after, the government did a rewrite of the change of use system, because they said they needed reform in that, after, of course, they had got the million dollar gain. Conveniently, the Labor Club managed to slip it in just in time. Rather than pay the $1,080,000 that would have been applicable for their 36-apartment building had it been done today, they did not pay a cent.
The Labor movement is a major property developer. They have established spin-off companies to do their developments. It says so pretty clearly in the Labor Club’s annual report. The purpose of the wholly owned company is “to acquire property and/or undertake property development”. But if we need verification, I guess we could contact Wayne Berry, who is now a property developer, given that he is one of the two directors of the development company doing the 36 apartments in Braddon. At the same time as the government talks tough about property developers, the Labor Club is in effect a property developer themselves. One might say that is corrupt but, if not, it is a horrendous double standard.
At the same time as the Labor Party is talking tough about gambling, at the same time as they move to end the greyhound industry, those opposite continue to profit, through their party, on the back of poker machines. The guaranteed winner in Charnwood, in Stirling, in the city or in Belconnen is the Australian Labor Party. Every one of their campaigns was funded through poker machine money. And yes, the money now comes through the 1973 Foundation but it has really all come from pokies.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video