Legal experts have labelled Scott Morrison’s latest attacks on the New South Wales corruption watchdog “disgraceful” and “stupid”, as the Liberal party ramps up efforts to have Gladys Berejiklian contest the federal seat of Warringah.

On Monday, the prime minister doubled down on his previous comments in parliament last week when he called the Independent Commission Against Corruption a “kangaroo court,” and accused it of trying to “publicly humiliate” the former NSW premier.

“Gladys was put in a position of actually having to stand down and there was no findings of anything,” Morrison said on Monday, in advance of any possible findings by Icac. Berejiklian resigned voluntarily in September, in line with her own ruling that an MP who is a substantial subject of an investigation must stand aside.

“I don’t call that justice. What I saw was a pile on,” Morrison said.

Icac is investigating whether Berejiklian failed to declare a conflict of interest due to her secret relationship with the then MP for Wagga, Daryl Maguire, when she was involved in awarding lucrative grants to community Maguire’s electorate as treasurer and later as premier. Berejiklian has denied any wrongdoing and Icac is yet to hand down its findings.

There’s growing speculation the former NSW premier will put her hand up for Liberal preselection to run against Zali Steggall in the northern Sydney electorate, after the independent won it from former prime minister Tony Abbott in 2019.

The chair of the Centre for Public Integrity and former NSW supreme court judge, Anthony Whealy, criticised Morrison for dismissing the serious issues raised by the Icac inquiry.

“Even those who admire Berejiklian for many of her qualities when she was premier, realise there has to be a serious inquiry into the situation that arose … in unloading millions of dollars of public money into the Wagga electorate at the same time she was in a relationship with the member for Wagga,” he said.

“For Morrison to dismiss that as being of no significance, is to trash integrity and accountability in the most terrible fashion,” he said.

For he part, Berejiklian insisted before Icac that Maguire was treated just like any other MP and that she did not consider she needed to disclose the relationship, which was a personal matter.

Whealy said calling it a kangaroo court showed the prime minister “had no idea what NSW Icac legislation says, because it is not a court at all.”

“It’s an investigative body that is precisely the same as a royal commission. No one suggested that the royal commissions into banking or trade unions, or aged care were kangaroos courts and they were conducted in public,” he said.

“To accuse Icac in this way, is to blatantly misunderstand its nature or it’s a wilful refusal to acknowledge what its true function is,” he said.

Former judge of the Victorian court of appeal Stephen Charles SC said Morrison’s comments were “disgraceful”.

“I thought that what they indicated that he was hoping the former premier would stand against Zali Steggall and that Icac’s activities were interfering with his wishes.”

Barrister Geoffrey Watson, who was counsel assisting Icac in its investigation of Labor MP, Eddie Obeid, said Morrison was “trivialising” Icac’s investigation when he accused it of simply investigating her personal relationship.

“It’s not that he’s said it’s a kangaroo court, that’s just stupid. It’s that he said it was an investigation into who was her boyfriend. That’s a trivialisation of an investigation into whether there had been compliance at the highest level with a code of conduct. You set the standards from the top,” he said.

“But what I found really awful was he suggested that Icac had pursued this as a politically motivated agenda – and that was quite improper, and he should apologise to the people and Icac for that remark,” he said.

The Law Council of Australia has called for “moderation in the debate over the proposed federal anti-corruption commission” after Morrison’s “kangaroo court” comment last week.

“Respect for legal institutions underpins the administration of justice in Australia. The structure and powers of any commission are important topics for discussion, but any commentary must be tempered by fairness and balance,” Law Council of Australia president, Dr Jacoba Brasch QC, said.

Morrison has made much of the fact that Berejiklian has not been accused of criminal conduct.

But University of Sydney professor of constitutional law, Anne Twomey said the definition of corrupt conduct was much broader in NSW than that of criminality.

“So you can be found to have engaged in corrupt conduct if you have misused your public office by acting in a manner that is dishonest or partial, by misusing public information or those sorts of things she said.”

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/dec/07/legal-experts-condemn-scott-morrisons-continuing-attacks-on-icac-as-disgraceful-and-stupid

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 See also: https://www.yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/36594

A number of cracks have been discovered in the hull of one Sydney’s new Manly ferries, with an independent report identifying several welding defects on the vessel.

A spokeswoman for private ferry operator Transdev confirmed to the Herald on Monday that several welding defects had been identified onboard the Emerald-class Balmoral.

While a source speaking on the condition of anonymity said there were more than 20 cracks identified in the hull, the Transdev spokeswoman said “a number” of welding defects had been found.

“A potential defect was identified in the weld of a secondary support structure inside a hull void of the Emerald Class vessel Balmoral during a routine inspection,” the spokeswoman said.

“[A] surveyor report confirmed a number of welding defects that are minor, isolated, and do not compromise the overall structural integrity of the vessel. Such welding defects are not uncommon and will not impact the Balmoral’s operation.”

The ferry issue comes as the NSW government works to find a timely solution to repair 12 cracked inner west trams.

The Balmoral’s window also smashed during trials in rough conditions in Sydney Harbour last month, while a problem with its rudder was also identified.

The issues identified on the Chinese-built Emerald-class vessel during testing are the latest in a series of problems discovered on recently procured Sydney ferries.

The vessel has been returned to service, with repairs expected to be addressed as part of upcoming maintenance.

The fleet had been plagued with problems over the past 18 months since the Herald first revealed its River-class ferries could not pass under specific bridges if passengers were seated on the top deck.

Asbestos was also found in those ferries, which are unable to operate at night due to a glare issue in the cabin and experienced stalling issues when braking under emergency conditions during early testing.

A source with knowledge of the matter described the welding defects as “cracks in the welds” and added the problem had not been identified with previously locally acquired Emerald ferries.

Opposition transport spokeswoman Jo Haylen called on the government to release the full findings of the independent report into the Balmoral.

“Passengers across Sydney are paying the price for the government’s failed transport procurement policies. Whether it’s cracked Manly ferries or cracked inner west trams,” she said.

“The government cannot hide behind the private operator. They should release the independent maritime surveyor’s report into the Balmoral immediately. The people of NSW deserve to know the truth about the government’s failed Manly ferry purchase.”

Doubt has lingered over the ability of the new ferries to operate in bigger swells on Sydney Harbour, particularly near the Heads, which the larger Freshwaters can handle.

The government last year announced its intention to retire all four Freshwater ferries, but backed down on the decision and kept two of the ferries for weekend and public holiday services amid public pressure.

The Emeralds had not been able to operate in larger swells recently because they had not yet been tested and certified for the conditions.

Delays to the arrival of the Emerald-class ferries were due to flooding in Port Macquarie earlier this year, where work was being carried out on the vessels.

Read more:

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/cracks-found-in-brand-new-sydney-harbour-ferry-20211206-p59fa2.html

The ferries, the trams, the whatever cracked bottom thingies, THE COST BLOW OUT, the cheap and nasty fabrication are all the former premier's glaring responsibility. 

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Funny thing about the federal government’s orchestrated multiple “Gladys for Warringah” media moments: They weren’t really about a former Liberal premier perhaps running for a former Liberal prime minister’s seat.

They were about lessening the damage Scott Morrison is suffering from accusations of telling lies and running what is arguably the most corrupt Commonwealth government in our 120 years of federation.

The co-ordinated talking points attack on New South Wales’ Independent Commission Against Corruption by the Prime Minister, Finance Minister Simon Birmingham and Environment Minister Sussan Ley, never mind anonymous “senior Liberals”, was not aimed at convincing Gladys Berejiklian she would like to be in federal Parliament taking orders from Mr Morrison.

Instead, the media grabs had two primary goals: 1. The Morrison government’s usual raison d’être of “winning” the daily news cycle; and 2. Deflecting criticism of Mr Morrison’s broken promise of introducing a federal equivalent of the ICAC and the weakness of the model the government has allegedly been working on for nearly four years.

“Don’t talk about my failure, talk about how bad a strong ICAC can be – you wouldn’t want one.”

It will be three years on Monday since Mr Morrison announced that “a new Commonwealth Integrity Commission will take the lead on detecting and stamping out any corrupt and criminal behaviour by Commonwealth employees”.

It hasn’t and it won’t.

Three years later, the Morrison government has refused the invitation to bring its proposed bill to the floor of the Parliament and was too scared to debate an independent proposal.

It will be four years next month since the Coalition “began carefully considering options for a national anti-corruption body”, Mr Morrison claimed, saying “we have taken the time to ensure this model fits into the existing system but avoids the worst aspects of some state anti-corruption bodies”.

Mr Morrison said his was “a serious new commission with teeth, resources and proper processes”.

It wasn’t, it isn’t, and there is no sign of it becoming one.

The Liberal Party is acutely aware that the stench of the Morrison government’s “integrity” jostles with climate change as the key driver of community independents candidates threatening safe Liberal seats.

In the same way that a vote for supposed Liberal “moderate” is a vote for Barnaby Joyce’s climate policy, a vote for Dave Sharma, Jason Falinski, Trent Zimmerman, Josh Frydenberg, Tim Wilson et al is a vote for #sportsrorts, #carpork and $4 billion worth of other raids on taxpayers’ funds for political purposes, rather than good government.

From the mere scores of millions of taxpayers’ dollars spent on political advertising of the Coalition’s dud climate policy and fake infrastructure boost to the multibillion-dollar Community Development Grants racket, it is spending former judges have no trouble describing as “corruption”.

What concerns the Morrison government about the ICAC’s inquiry is not what might or might not be found about what Ms Berejiklian should or should not have disclosed, but that it might lead to blowing the whistle on the sort of flagrant misuse of public funds that has become the Coalition’s hallmark.

With Commonwealth ministerial standards thoroughly trashed, the comparison with higher expected NSW standards is invidious. Best attempt to trash the body enforcing those NSW standards then – lie about it, mislead Parliament on the matters at stake, whatever.

Irony doesn’t come much thicker than this government criticising a legal ICAC inquiry while pursuing lawyer Bernard Collaery with “super-secret” evidence, a multi-year legal persecution of an honourable man that verges on an attempt to bring the administration of justice into disrepute.

And it’s all over the embarrassment of the Howard/Downer government’s commercial espionage in East Timor.

And such is the gaming of Australian politics that, for all that is wrong with the government’s media stunts, they work.

On Sunday, Anthony Albanese unveiled Labor policies including free TAFE and more university places, but Scott Morrison was a passenger around Bathurst in a Mustang, throwing in such dubious statements as the Bathurst 1000 being “the greatest race there is” and that it was “the best course in the world”.

I’d wager more people know about Mr Morrison’s cruise around the track (no helmets needed to be worn) than Labor’s education policy.

On Monday, when Mr Albanese was out and about trying to sell those policies, cue the government attacking the ICAC and ramping up the idea of Ms Berejiklian running in Warringah. It was no contest.

The idea of Ms Berejiklian being a welcome candidate while awaiting the ICAC’s findings, let alone the suggestion she would win the seat with that cloud hanging over, suits Mr Morrison’s purposes just fine.

See, nobody wants a real integrity commission anyway.

Read more:

https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/2021/12/08/michael-pascoe-attacking-icac-morrison-gladys/

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