Hello & thank you to everyone who has signed and shared this petition.
I finished working night shifts this last week and almost fell over when I checked in and saw how many people had signed & shared!
Thank you so much!
There might be some of you who wonder WHY I have addressed this petition to Senators Patrick & Lambie and I think we should also ADD Senator Stirling Griff - if no one objects.
I read the first speeches of the Centre Alliance senators and both are committed to transparency in Government. Senator Patrick more so through using the powers the Senate already has.
My thoughts are that a National Integrity Commission would SUPPORT those powers because Ministers who stop Public Sector employees appearing before a Senate enquiry as they currently frequently do - could be formally sanctioned. Public Sector workers can also fear for their jobs if they 'say too much' which is the LAST thing I think Australians want if true honesty & accountability is to be the fabric of our Governments.
I have since read their speeches on passing the recent Tax Bill & I don't see any difficulties with their reasons.
Jacquie Lambie has done it hard & knows what it is like to be disadvantaged & struggling. She hasn't forgotten & I believe cares about ALL Australians even if she has put the disadvantaged in her own state ahead as a Tasmanian senator THIS time. Tasmania has suddenly become 'popular' with wealthier people (hedging their bets on Climate Change despite voting against policies to help reduce it?) & poorer Tasmanians are paying a terrible price.
However I DID hear Senator Patrick on Radio National when I was on my way home from Night Shift last week, quote the term "politics of envy" which made my blood boil. I find it disgusting that anyone would use this term as a weapon against those who ADVOCATE for the poor, ill & disadvantaged in our country.
It is NOT "envy" to want those struggling to have a decent quality of life - how else CAN they be lifted out of poverty and manage to do things for themselves? You have to GET opportunities to be able to make use of them & many people in Australia today DON'T get those opportunities in the first place.
Many middle Australians have bought into the disadvantaged must 'deserve it' mantra... Until it happens to THEM or THEIR family...
Poverty CAN happen to ANYONE.... You can have worked all your life, be on the cusp of retirement & have a stroke or be diagnosed with cancer - your insurer takes forever to pay (if they do at all) & you are FORCED onto Newstart... Ten letters later from your Specialists & the Gov't still WON'T accept that you are 'disabled' even if you are paralyzed down one side or diagnosed as terminally ill
I know someone who took 2 years after a stroke leaving him partially paralyzed to be granted a Disability pension - because he was 5 years too young for the aged pension.. People have DIED of cancer while waiting to be accepted as being too disabled to work!
People should never get too comfortable & think THAT could NEVER happen to me... One day YOU are a beloved 'aspirational' & then the next day FATE intervenes....
We also shouldn't have in our country, privilege for ONE generation being paid for by future generations...
It's not a FUTURE 'thing'... It is ALREADY happening as recent changes lowering thresholds for HECS payments to MEDIAN wage levels have shown. Yet many who MAKE these decisions benefited from FREE tertiary education themselves...
I think a Code of Ethics coupled with the NIC for ALL those governing us (including those NOMINATING for Parliament) - could also help make politicians think BEFORE they start 'playing' one part of the Australian population against another OR give out Gov't contracts in closed 'tap on the shoulder' tenders OR spend millions of dollars of public money buying back dodgy water flows from 'mates' - would this pass the Ethical Code of Conduct/NIC test?
Special thanks to those on Twitter who have helped promote this petition by re-tweeting, those who have donated money to promote it (I honestly prefer it if people don't - because I feel bad about it) & those who have shared on FB or other social media.. Because that helps MORE than money, I believe.
Can I also promote the petition below please? Such an enquiry could help prevent future ultra wealthy opportunists 'doing a Palmer' trying to manipulate us - & fit perfectly with a future NIC & Code of Ethics!