Thursday, October 13, 2005
Kucera, Collier and Party Processes
The recent demise of Bob Kucera was unfortunate but necessary given the nature of his indiscretion.
I have no reason to believe that he deliberately set out to profit from his position in cabinet – indeed it seems stupid beyond comprehension to risk a ministers salary for what appears to be a relatively modest profit on some Alinta shares held in his own name and a parcel held by his wife.
That said, there have been many instances over the years where greed got in the way of reason and I can’t rule out greed as a motivating factor.
In my opinion, the greater sin is the cover up that seems to have been engaged in by the Premier and senior members of the Labor government.
If Kucera was aware of a conflict of interest – and it seems clear that he was aware before this issue hit the media - why didn’t he confess to the transgression immediately he realised his error and seek to redress the situation himself?
Kucera describes himself as an honourable man and that his resignation from his ministerial position was the only acceptable course of action. If that is true, why did it require the opposition bringing this matter up before he acted?
I’m sorry Bob, but it just doesn’t ring true.
Issues like those raised by the Mickelberg brothers about Kucera’s time as the officer in charge of the Belmont Police Station leave question marks concerning his "honour".
Similarly, having had some small experience with party politics, the selection of Kucera as the candidate for Yokine seems to an outsider a little too cosy for mine.
The day following Kucera’s resignation, I listened to Liberal member of the Legislative Council, Peter Collier crowing about a ‘win’ in forcing the government to allow members the choice of swearing allegiance to The Queen or The State of WA.
Collier is on the money with his assertion that this was another small step in the "republic by stealth" campaign by the ALP but I ask whether any member – including Collier himself – would be brave enough to swear allegiance to The Queen ahead of Western Australia. I think not.
Collier is indicative of the quality of member that results from the party system. His path to Parliament is well documented and, frankly, the public has got what they voted for.
He is not alone, the benches on both sides of both houses of Parliament are littered with self-interested party hacks whose only talent is in stacking branches and manipulating selection panels. They don’t even attempt to hide their activities nowadays.
We need to move away from the 2 party system and get back to representing the electors. Basically that means more independents in every parliament and in Local Government.
To that end, I applaud the move by Independent Federal members Katter, Windsor and Andren to establish the Independent Candidate Advisory Network to encourage and support Independent candidates contest elections. I hope similar networks can be developed at the State level.
I have no reason to believe that he deliberately set out to profit from his position in cabinet – indeed it seems stupid beyond comprehension to risk a ministers salary for what appears to be a relatively modest profit on some Alinta shares held in his own name and a parcel held by his wife.
That said, there have been many instances over the years where greed got in the way of reason and I can’t rule out greed as a motivating factor.
In my opinion, the greater sin is the cover up that seems to have been engaged in by the Premier and senior members of the Labor government.
If Kucera was aware of a conflict of interest – and it seems clear that he was aware before this issue hit the media - why didn’t he confess to the transgression immediately he realised his error and seek to redress the situation himself?
Kucera describes himself as an honourable man and that his resignation from his ministerial position was the only acceptable course of action. If that is true, why did it require the opposition bringing this matter up before he acted?
I’m sorry Bob, but it just doesn’t ring true.
Issues like those raised by the Mickelberg brothers about Kucera’s time as the officer in charge of the Belmont Police Station leave question marks concerning his "honour".
Similarly, having had some small experience with party politics, the selection of Kucera as the candidate for Yokine seems to an outsider a little too cosy for mine.
The day following Kucera’s resignation, I listened to Liberal member of the Legislative Council, Peter Collier crowing about a ‘win’ in forcing the government to allow members the choice of swearing allegiance to The Queen or The State of WA.
Collier is on the money with his assertion that this was another small step in the "republic by stealth" campaign by the ALP but I ask whether any member – including Collier himself – would be brave enough to swear allegiance to The Queen ahead of Western Australia. I think not.
Collier is indicative of the quality of member that results from the party system. His path to Parliament is well documented and, frankly, the public has got what they voted for.
He is not alone, the benches on both sides of both houses of Parliament are littered with self-interested party hacks whose only talent is in stacking branches and manipulating selection panels. They don’t even attempt to hide their activities nowadays.
We need to move away from the 2 party system and get back to representing the electors. Basically that means more independents in every parliament and in Local Government.
To that end, I applaud the move by Independent Federal members Katter, Windsor and Andren to establish the Independent Candidate Advisory Network to encourage and support Independent candidates contest elections. I hope similar networks can be developed at the State level.
