Into oblivion with pens raised
Sydney Morning Herald
Friday March 4, 2011
YOU'RE a minister in a government facing annihilation at the coming election. As things look now, your party may be out of power for two, three - even four terms. On your desk a pile of directives awaits your signature, some of them months old. Some are embarrassing but necessary, awaiting a politically convenient time. Others are glad-handing gestures of the kind all governments make to shore up support. Still others are genuine achievements to which your party will be able to point in opposition, but which cost too much when budgets are tight. The election writs are about to be issued, ending your time in office. What do you do?If you are a minister in the Keneally government, you take up your pen and sign and sign and sign. That is the way to understand the welter of decisions the state government is now rushing out. In the embarrassing category is the decision of the Planning Minister, Tony Kelly, to change the rules applying to excavations at Barangaroo, exempting the development from lawsrelating to the possible leaching of contamination into the harbour - even as a court is seeking to determine whether those laws have been correctly applied. Other than a desire to impress a large development company or to reassure the industry that Labor can be relied on - neither of them worthy motives - the reason for the rush is unclear. Why not just let due process take its course and abide by the court's decision?In the glad-handing category are the awards announced by the Premier, dressed in her sari, to members of various ethnic groups. We do not doubt the worthiness of the recipients, but we do question the value of any awards system which splits the community into various ethnic divisions, rewards some but not all, and is most active on the eve of an election in which government members fear losing the ethnic minority vote. The pork barrel has gone multicultural.As for the genuine achievement - it comes in the form of a bribe of sorts to commuters on the airport rail link. The government will pay the access fee for which commuters are now liable. The fee, of course, was always unreasonable and hampered the line's success. But still, even though it benefits the Premier's own constituents, and even though it took too long, it is good that it is gone.The government has until midnight tonight before it disappears in a puff of pinkish smoke. Who knows what other surprises Labor is signing up to?
© 2011 Sydney Morning Herald
