New South Wales will shortly have its fifth Premier in seven years following the bombshell resignation of Barry O’Farrell, who was today embarrassed by the emergence of a card in which he thanked Australian Water Holdings boss Nick Di Girolamo for a $3000 bottle of wine he yesterday denied having received. O’Farrell is the state’s second Liberal Premier to have been brought down by the exertions of the Independent Commission Against Corruption, Nick Greiner having fallen foul of an adverse ruling in 1992 involving a job offer to Liberal-turned-independent MP Terry Metherell. It now falls to the Liberal Party to find a replacement: without being too aware of the daily machinations of New South Wales politics, my immediate presumption was that the Treasurer, Mike Baird, would be the front-runner. However, I am seeing Gladys Berejiklian, Andrew Constance, Brad Hazzard and Jillian Skinner mentioned around the place.
And people wonder why the Greens and the Palmer United Party are becoming a force in Australian politics.
The two major parties haven’t given them the opportunity to show how corrupt they are…
I’m still finding it a bit difficult to understand the media reaction. It’s as though they want to blame Labor but can’t quite figure out how to do it.
Or potentially corruptible, as Fran points out.
cw:
I suppose his ICAC dealings have tarnished his rep in the business world, making it harder to segue from parliament to the corporate sector.
But still, there’s obviously still a lot of stuff to come out of the inquiry.
Oops. Nepotism? I meant cronyism.
Confessions.
I did consider a job outside, but couldn’t work my brain through the maze of who would offer him one.
Just Me
As it turns out Boffa and I share a birth year. I have a bottle of ,unopened, Saltram Tawny Port. Way cheaper.
As for whisky. An “unfortunate” incident at high school involving a bottle of Johnny Walker Red ruined any possible love affair with the brew for me. Mind you Glenmorangie is nae to bad.
It is such a maze..all those people, jobs, shares, ministers of this and that.
Worse mess than Sydney roads are said to be. And harder to get through.
I’m sure I put two “o” in too 🙂
mikehilliard@450
Its a reflex action isn’t it.
Robb wants the rules changes, sheehan and Pvo are saying no way should BOF resign.
We know if it had been Labor they would have been putting in the boot all day.
They believe their own BS.
abbott next ! Hang on – he hasn’t done anything but cancel stuff – but there might be some goodies in the CoA conflict of interests that we are not going to be allowed to see.
cw:
I had the same thought re Sinodinos. Mud tends to stick and he has been swept up in ‘Obeiditis’ to borrow a JTI term.
Terrible sounding condition, that.
MikeH
They can’t blame it on labor, can’t blame it on the sunshine…
confessions
[‘Obeiditis’ to borrow a JTI term]
Oi ! Moi warned about how contagious “Obeiditis” is in this very Bludger lounge a week or so ago. Curse that plagiarist JTI 🙂
Fran is right, I’ve heard senior public servants say the best thing to do is reject all gifts.
Yes it appears the talking points are yet to be released, maybe poor Peta has spent all day getting Tone to calm down after his frosty interview outburst.
SK
[Fran, problems of corruption, nepotism and the ruling clique generally serving interests other than that of the public interest is not isolated to capitalist democracies.]
Certainly not. They are a feature of any society configured to protect a propertied elite.
Could have warned Barry then, Poroti.
Sorry poroti. 🙂
Oh, THAT bottle of Grange! Silly me. Well I think I will resign now.
Yes, it is all perfectly innocent and believable. After spending sixteen years gaining power, O’Farrell is content to give it away in a day after discovering one overlooked piece of paper… Sure!
This is as believable as the stated reasons for the Rudd sacking.
Yes it appears the talking points are yet to be released, maybe poor Peta has spent all day getting Tone to calm down after his frosty interview outburst.
It would be simpler if she just gave the interviews for him.
Nepotism will forever exist, basically uni students and job seekers are taught that networking is the best way to get a job.
I can understand why they say it is but i am not sure recruitment should be determined solely by who you know.
Simon Katich
Blame it on the Boogie.
Mex, if only it were just about the gifts. What AWH shows is that it’s now so much more ingrained and complex….and harder to regulate against.
Don’t blame it on the moonlight.
Mmmmh.
Nepotismised.
Is that a word?
Can I do a liberal supporter on PB whinge?
“Tony Abbott being sexist against a female reporter”….
[Joan Evatt @Boeufblogginon 1h
For those wondering who the female journalist was who Tony Abbott gave a patronising serve to today. It’s Nicola Berkovic (The Oz).]
Yep News going in hard.
[Fran is right, I’ve heard senior public servants say the best thing to do is reject all gifts.]
Rejection of all gifts is to me, a highly reactionary response. They simply need to be declared, approved for collection by managers, and entered into an official public register regardless of whether they were accepted or not.
You start demanding that public servants can’t accept any gift, then you’re taking it way OTT.
PvO declares Bazza “has done nothing wrong”. Yeah right. Oh and a $3,000 bottle of Grange described by PvO as “a bottle of plonk” .Insert barf emoticon.
And most public sector agencies which impose a mandatory declaration of all gifts usually have a dollar amount threshold. Whether it’s $50, $100 or whatever. If you are given a gift under this threshold you don’t have to declare it.
I don’t see a problem with this.
Fessy
True it would be excessive to have to reject every gift but where the person was coming from and yes she is a very senior P.S was that in order to avoid the perception its easier to say no.
Also, does anyone remember this?
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/state-politics/nsw-mps-to-lose-pecuniary-privilege/story-e6frgczx-1226501474402#mm-premium
“The legislation, which follows talks between the parliament and the Independent Commission Against Corruption, will remove parliamentary privilege around the register of MPs’ pecuniary interests.”
Perhaps O’Farrel own goal?
PvO has no right.
Who does he think he is. Pell?
[Oh and a $3,000 bottle of Grange described by PvO as “a bottle of plonk” .Insert barf emoticon.]
PvO took to twitter earlier to declare it was more like $2,000.
[Peter van Onselen @vanOnselenP 1h
Btw, the going price on a 1959 bottle of Grange is $2,000…]
Yep, he’s going all out to defend BOF.
SK
[and harder to regulate against.]
Actually it is easy to regulate against corruption. All public service codes of conduct are quite clear and effective. The hard bit is getting the regulators to pass the regulations as applying to themselves. The other hard bit is enforcing them on the regulators. For that you need honest cops and honest courts.
What was ALL the help Nick Di G gave the Liberal Party before they were elected?
Zoidy
You might as well as, the resident Liberals have gone to ground or to drink.
Just remember to mention slush funds and rorts and unions and anything else and you should have all bases covered.
I’d say all our Liberal friends are buried behind their desks, googling frantically to find something similar that a Labor pollie did. With supporting statistics. 😉 Or trying to justify Abbott’s rudeness.
@MB/484
Back at Menzies House probably.
mb:
Imagine if every public servant (senior or otherwise), minister, Premier or PM was forced to forfeit a bunch of flowers presented to them because they’d done a great job engaging a local community or stakeholder agency on a particular public policy issue?
It’s simply ridiculous and just creates more bureaucracy where it isn’t needed. The systems already exist for the declaration of gifts, as the BOF stuff illustrates.
What we now need is the story of why BOF chose not to register the Grange gift.
Poroti, hockey tells us their are no more good times. Can’t blame it on that.
confessions
Is there, perhaps, a monetary limit on gifts that must be declared?
confessions
Even , which it is not , a “mere” $2,000 a bottle how do ya reckon the optics are in the same week Shrek was berating pensioners , the unemployed and the disabled about what a bunch of “entitlement” bludgers they are and how they must get less ?
Fessy very true it would be, i think where this person was coming from was in regards to gifts like invites to the footy or bottles of wine or dinner and the need to declare it or if not comfortable about having to declare then it might be easier to just say no.
Today highlights the deep problem in Aus politics at present.
I suspect even most staunch Labor voters would prefer an O’Farrell as NSW Premier to a Bullock or a DeBruyn.
The result of O’Farrell’s departure will probably be the elevation of Abbott’s religious anti same sex marriage surfing mate , Mike Baird, to NSW Premier, too.
Hard to see a real winner here. Certainly not likely to be NSW.
[Peter van Onselen @vanOnselenP 1h
Btw, the going price on a 1959 bottle of Grange is $2,000…]
Fairfax media says otherwise:
[It was a wine made in secret, and it’s whereabouts is now a mystery, but one thing is for certain – if Barry O’Farrell’s lost bottle of 1959 Penfold’s Grange ever turns up, it could be worth a lot more than $3000.
There are seven bottles of the 1959 Grange up for sale in Australia at present, and the cheapest on offer is listed at $2998, from Sydney-based wine broker Cellarit.com.au, for a bottle with a heavily stained and torn label.
That’s only $20 more than the $2978 originally paid by Nick Di Girolamo for O’Farrell’s gift.
National chain Dan Murphy also has a bottle of 1959 Grange advertised at $4850.
According to the Dan Murphy website, “the 1959 Grange is a dark cherry dominated blend of 90% Shiraz and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. Still showing notes of bitter chocolate and marmalade, this great Grange will be drinking well for the next few years comfortably”.
But the top price on offer is on eBay at $7490, for a mint bottle that also passed Penfolds Red Wine Clinic in 2010.]
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/the-real-value-of-australias-most-politically-costly-wine-20140416-36rvm.html#ixzz2z2UmdK9h
Apparently on ebay and several other places prices varied from nearly $5000 to about $7,500
That question the young female reporter from the Australian (of all places) asked Abbott today was an absolute doozy. Any more of that and we might have to start modifying our view of said shit sheet.
Of course she may have since received a rocket from Uncle Rupe and been sent off for re-education, or even worse, fired.
It WOULD be easier to say no.
In fact it is EASY to say no.
lizzie:
When I worked in the public service it was $50 for our dept. Anything above this you had to get approved by management before you could accept it.
The only gift I had rejected by management which exceeded the $50 limit was an indigenous painting by a well known artist in a remote community. It was instead re-gifted to local AMS or their reception area. That was totally cool with me.
A wine expert on 2GB today said that Grange 1959 wasn’t something to sacrifice your job for, especially if your job was Premier of NSW.
He described it as “stalky” and “dusty”, from a bad year, and probably corked. Not worth drinking, but worth showing off to your wine buff mates.
He said it was overly robust, practically a baked dinner in a bottle and really not worth the trouble.
1955 was, apparently, a better year. 1959….meh.