FROM THE DESK OF Roland Rocchiccioli – September 13, 2018

The November state election looms. It is time to start thinking, seriously, about how you will cast your vote!

I have to say, short of a policy miracle, I have already made the decision. Before I came to live in Ballarat I was unaware of how shabbily regional Victoria is treated; and the propensity for citycentric government. Increasingly, one is becoming more disenchanted as politicians’ audacious behaviour demonstrates they will stop at nothing to retain control. Politics has become less about good governance and more about staying in power. It seems they have cloth ears when it comes to heeding public criticism of their performances. The recent and outrageous shenanigans in Canberra were a blatant spectacle of their political conceitedness, and which had nothing to do with the welfare of the country – despite their protestations to the contrary.

The political havoc was, indubitably, the vengeance of the former Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, and wreaked without regard for the people of the nation. It beggars belief that Home Affairs Minister, Peter Dutton, successfully requested for Federal Parliament to be suspended for the day.

An unprecedented Victorian Labor government decision to table 80,000 pages of confidential, unredacted documents, concerning alleged misconduct by the opposition leader, Matthew Guy, is an irresponsible and unforgiveable abuse of
parliamentary privilege for political gain. It is a clear indicator of how acrimonious the fight has become, and the depths to which they will plumb to score a political point, and, more importantly, to stay in power – such is their desperation; meanwhile, we, the voters, are impotent to halt their conduct, and to remind them they occupy the highest office in the land and are not part of a tawdry reality television programme.

It is incomprehensible, that not one of the 600 government employees took the time, or made the required effort, to clear the documents for release. Subsequently, a belated and en passant apology from the Premier, Daniel Andrews, is unacceptable. The breach should not have occurred, ever. Griffith University governance and integrity expert, Professor AJ Brown, argued, if the government suspected the documents to be evidence for the crime of misconduct in public office, it ought to have referred them to an investigator, such as the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (Ibac). He added:“Instead, this appears to be a government abuse of parliamentary privilege to publicly attack its opponents, in a somewhat irresponsible way, especially if it involves large-scale, indiscriminate use of unredacted, confidential information.”

The release of the documents is irrefutable validation of a most serious malaise which has, in more recent times, contaminated politics, and for the worse. The personal abuse, vitriol, and half truths are truly lamentable, and demonstrate a disquieting disregard for the voting public. Recently, Mr. Andrews posted a video on his Facebook page which took the first half of a sentence from the new Liberal candidate for Buninyong, Andrew Kilmartin, and wittingly omitted the second half of the sentence, which was an immediate correction of an utterance.

Mr. Andrews’ action is, by any definition, both disingenuous and deceitful. In short, a lie. As it happens, the interview was the first given by the nervous novice, Mr. Kilmartin, and the decision to bowdlerize his quote is both reprehensible and unforgivable. In modern parlance, it’s fake news!

The Minister for Public Transport, Jacinta Allan, demonstrated a similar indifference when she deliberately flew in the face of public opinion and radically altered the bus routes and timetables in Ballarat. The Minister’s hubristic decision to staredown her detractors showed a total lack of regard for Ballarat voters and the hapless users of public transport. More disturbingly, it indicated a determination to ignore the concerns, and revealed an obstreperousness when confronted by the public.

A conversation with the Transport Shadow Minister, David Davis, revealed the Liberal National Coalition, has no policy plans to rectify Ballarat’s prevailing transport fiasco.

When an incumbent Prime Minister is routed by his own party to sate politicians’ self-serving, ego-tistical, petty jealousies, it is hardly surprising that desperate Australians are turning in worrying numbers to Pauline Hanson’s One Nation, and independent candidates, in the vain hope they might be more properly served in the parliament.

The coming federal and state elections are crucial if we are to eradicate the canker. Please, do not waste your vote. Action is needed to end the circus.

Roland can be heard each MONDAY morning on 3BA at 10.30am.

Contact [email protected].