Thank you to everyone who has signed & shared and THANKS to Larissa Waters and The Greens for introducing the Integrity Commission Bill to the Senate, to the Centre Alliance, Jacqui Lambie and Labor for VOTING for it and even PHON who disagreed but opted to abstain (I never thought that I would be thankful to PHON!) - the Bill for a much stronger Integrity Commission 'with teeth' was PASSED in the Senate!
Absolutely WONDERFUL and I will amend this petition to reflect that :) BUT the reality is - that the REAL fight has ONLY just begun!
As can be seen by The Guardian article attached to this update: "Labor, Centre Alliance and Jacqui Lambie join Greens in voting for federal anti-corruption commission, but bill won’t pass House"
Larissa Waters was quoted:
“Now the pressure is on the government to back this bill in the House, where the crossbench and opposition also want a strong corruption body not the weak, toothless government proposal, which hasn’t moved an inch for almost a year.”
BUT as Sarah Martin the author of the article explained: "....while the Coalition may be forced into a debate over a procedural motion on whether the bill is voted upon, it will use its numbers in the House of Representatives to prevent a vote taking place."
So the Government CAN just gag ANY debate on the Bill making sure they are NEVER forced to VOTE on it and show US the PEOPLE how much they really DON'T want a STRONG NIC/ICAC!
And as expected the undermining and rot has already begun: "Liberal senator Amanda Stoker derided the Greens for attempting a “cheap shot” on the Coalition. She criticised the model as too expensive and with the potential to become a “tyrant” in its operation.
She called on the crossbench and the opposition to back the government’s alternative federal integrity commission.
“It is well resourced, it is subject to proper processes, it will be effective in such a way as to ensure that all Australians can be confident in their elected representatives and in the public officials who are charged with the duty of giving effect to the work of this place,” Stoker said."
The FIC Bill Senator Stoker is referring to is the Bill 'created' by the Government last year - which I have included in a previous update and is seen by learned judges, lawyers and anti-corruption experts as: "...worse than not having an Integrity Commission at all"
And as far as "well resourced"? I believe that ONLY $2.2 million has been budgeted to set up the Govt's Clayton's ICAC (any youngies WON'T get this reference!): 'The ICAC you have when you're not having an ICAC'
Compare THAT $2.2M to $500M+ to keep ~ 1300 people 'guarded' and TRANSPORTABLE buildings 'maintained' in an off-shore detention centre for around a year and a half - and you can see just how committed this Govt ISN'T to ANY form of ICAC/NIC!
So NOW we really NEED to keep the pressure up - because otherwise this ICAC Bill could LANGUISH for the rest of THIS Government's term in office!
And I STILL BELIEVE we MUST have some sort of CODE OF ETHICS or INTEGRITY for our Politicians (and Political Candidates running for office) to abide by - as PART of the NIC/ICAC umbrella.
Having an ENFORCEABLE Code of Ethics for ALL Politicians is needed but especially for Ministers (if the Minister has a Code of Ethics to abide by - he/she is NOT going to force APS staff to choose between risking their job and following their OWN Code) - would make it much easier to STOP Corruption BEFORE it happens..
Would a Politician even THINK about doing something UNETHICAL if they risked being sanctioned or better yet removed by a NIC/ICAC before it EVEN got as far as actually BEING corruption? And APS workers would have somewhere 'safe' to go to 'whistleblow' TO - if they suspected something not quite right was going on..
And it may well prevent the UNETHICAL from trying to run for election in the first place...
So we might end up with more POLICIES (and HONESTY during elections) that benefit ALL of us instead of DIVIDING our society.
A BONUS for US and our children/grandchildren - the PEOPLE of Australia!