Forget The Petitions, We Need Pitchforks And Torches

By Darryl Mason


(graphic from smh.com.au front page)

What has happened in the NSW government is a fucking insult to democracy. Not only do we not get to vote for the leaders of our major political parties, we don't even get a say in who becomes premier is anymore.

A campaign for early elections by the Sydney Morning Herald is an interesting start to returning a semblance of democracy to the people of New South Wales, but what exactly is a newspaper doing publicly campaigning for the dismissal of a government?

From the Sydney Morning Herald :

It is about a system of government that locks the people of NSW into a four-year fixed electoral cycle, that reduces the voters to bystanders in an endless rotation of ministers and premiers - with no way of bringing on an election.

The people of NSW, who elected Morris Iemma in 2007, have seen that choice overturned, and overturned again, until they now have a government they scarcely recognise. And that government is overseeing a decline in the quality of services to the public.

Hospitals are understaffed and over budget. They cannot pay their bills. Waiting lists for elective surgery are growing. Public transport is in disarray and its future is in doubt for want of adequate planning. Roads, railways, buses and ferries are dilapidated. So are our schools. Police resources are stretched. Looming over all the problems, explaining them and perpetuating them, is a budget shortfall that results from the Government's inherent inability to manage its affairs or anything else.

The Sydney Morning Herald is clickbaiting readers to sign a petition, but it's unlikely to achieve much, besides hits to their website. The NSW government needs to hear the call for early elections loud and clear, in person, at the gates of parliament.

Blockading the front and back of state parliament for about a week should give the new unelected 'premier' the message loud and clear that no-one in NSW is prepared to wait until 2011 to have a real, viable say on the future of this disturbingly corrupt, inept, backstabbing, ridiculously chaotic government.

update : The Daily Telegraph is in on the petition clickbait now as well.

Dave Gaukroger at Pure Poison :

All that these two newspapers have achieved with their campaigns is that they have lost any claim to be disinterested reporters and commentators. The NSW print media has shown that it is willing to actively campaign against a sitting government, making a mockery of their role as the fourth estate. This is not a sign of a healthy and informed democracy.

Opposition Leader Barry O'Farrell Explains Why Petitioning For Early Elections Might Ultimately Be More Effective Than Pitchforks And Torches :

....as in September last year, when Nathan Rees was installed by the same factional bosses behind Kristina Keneally's rise, the choice of premier wasn't by the hands of NSW voters but by, in Rees's words, "the malignant, treacherous and disloyal forces" of the NSW branch of the Australian Labor Party.

Four premiers, five health ministers and six police ministers since 2005 are signs of both a dysfunctional government and a lack of respect for the public, which is meant to be the basis of our democracy.

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The Bullet That May Bring Down The NSW Government

Reality, always so much more WTF? than fiction can ever be.

From today's Sydney Morning Herald :

The Neutral Bay property developer and loan shark Michael McGurk may have been killed because he was in possession of a tape that had potential to bring down the NSW Government.

The audio tape is understood to contain revelations about the bribing of senior government figures.

The head of the homicide squad, Superintendent Geoff Beresford, described the killing as ''very targeted''.

Police said Mr McGurk had died as a result of a single bullet wound to the head while his son Luke sat in the passenger seat of his black Mercedes-Benz saloon.

One bullet. It certainly sounds professional.

A week before his death, McGurk told Sydney Morning Herald journalist Kate McClymont (excerpts) :

...he had reason to believe that a person, whom he named, was planning to have him killed.

...he confessed to making recordings, which he claimed to have made legally, with a well-known Sydney man. When pressed he hinted at corruption involving Labor politicians, both state and federal.

McGurk later became expansive, providing the Herald with a detailed list of names to investigate.

...he had been told there was a plan to have him killed and he was extremely anxious as he believed the person had the means to carry out such a threat.

He concluded by saying that by the end of the week he hoped to be able to hand something over to the Herald, which would enable us to see the ''whole picture''.

He was killed before he could hand over to the Herald what he had.

These events will obviously plunge the NSW Labor government into further chaos, as they vault from Melrose Place shenanigans to being linked to something grimly reminiscent of The Sopranos.

The obvious question, besides who ordered the hit and who carried it out, is : Where Is The Tape?

And did McGurk make copies of the allegedly incriminating tape and distribute them to trusted friends or lawyers to make public if the threats against his life were carried out?

The Sydney Morning Herald sounds like it's sitting on one hell of a story, one that could bring down the NSW government. Or more accurately, finish it off.