Corruption in WA Politics

Is corruption a real issue in WA politics?

The Desert Rat takes a casual interest in Labor politics in other states and it seem to him that the Tasmanian and NSW Labor Party politics are two states where serious levels of corruption are endemic. More on that in later posts.

Western Australia is a rather timid place when it comes to accommodating corruption. In 35 years of what may be called insider politics, the Desert Rat has not personally seen any corruption except inside the WA police force where it was part of the cover-up of misdeeds culture of the hierarchy. That process saw small time offenders resign from the force with the threat of prosecutions or where the big fish were protected because they had the "dirt" on most of the hierarchy. The hierarchy wouldn’t risk the scandal.

The fact that we don't have poker machines in Western Australia says a lot about criminal influence in Western Australia, and, there isn't a snowflakes hope in hell of getting them into WA. Our Lotteries Commission is still publicly owned so that the public get the benefits of that form of gambling. Despite the efforts of Packer and others the moneyed interests have not been allowed a free-for-all at the Casino.

The Desert Rat thinks that these sorts of attitudes reflect the lack of criminal corruption, as they would be some of the first destructive indicators that showed the influence of moneyed interests and organised crime on politicians. Corruption in WA politics is negligible.

Western Australia has had its share of entrepreneurial egomaniacs from time to time, that have had the ear of government, but the Desert Rat does not know any Minister or member of parliament that has ever taken a personal bribe. Politics is all about networking and friendships. Those in the loop and those in control of the infamous "numbers" generally call the shots. Influence can be wielded by big wheels or small wheels. It is the connections or networks that matter. A particular activist or conservationist can have more influence than the CEO of BHP Billiton or a property developer.

When the Gallop Government (alias the McGinty regime) set up their political caste system after 2001, they eschewed contact with the important business sector in Western Australia. Such was their antipathy to commerce and business that the result was the explosion of lobbyists, as business needed to get back in the loop to be heard and get decisions. Business and commerce under McGinty’s Socialist Labor regime were the "untouchables". They were unclean.

The growth of lobbyists did not necessarily mean corruption took place. The Desert Rat is of the view that there is little if any corruption in Western Australia.

The sad part about the Corruption and Crime Commission is that they don't understand how politics functions practically. Under Jim McGinty’s stewardship of that incompetent and lugubrious monolith, the CCC has given the opposite impression. Like Don Quixote, the CCC has been "tilting at windmills." Making representations to Government is not corruption; it is a normal part of the political process.

Despite spending or wasting nearly $90 million on the CCC we have not discovered any bribes, any coercion, any threats, or any criminal conduct by politicians or ex-politicians. What we have seen, heard and read, is a CCC political sideshow which has been exposed by Malcolm McCusker QC as grossly incompetent.

This sideshow has served Jim McGinty's interests well to date. Not one Socialist Left Faction Minister or Left Faction ex Minister or Left faction lobbyist has been investigated by the CCC – let alone humiliated.

All Jim McGinty's main opponents in the ALP have been scrutinised and humiliated.

This state of affairs has been presided over by that parody of an Attorney General Jim McGinty who still claims the CCC is doing a good job. Well, yes, if you think recklessly destroying people lives and reputations and businesses is a good.

The media now understands the dynamics of this evil process we have seen spawned in Western Australia and it is beginning to gradually sink into the public’s mind.

The real "corruption" as the Desert Rat sees it is when Alan Carpenter suddenly announces that he thinks Malcolm McCusker QC should be allowed to scrutinise the CCC evidence in his reports. Carpenter got off the fence and supported McCusker, albeit very briefly.

Why the sudden change of heart?

ALP polling showed 85% of the public surveyed believed and supported Malcolm McCusker and not the CCC.

There is no conviction in this manipulative type of superficial politics. It exists in a moral vacuum.