As Mr. Latham told Paul Murray Labor governments have never been shy of hounding folk out of office,
I remember ten years ago, I was part of the Labor Party effort to drive Peter Hollingsworth from office, someone who was never charged, never went before a tribunal, never had any adverse findings against him …
But of course neither side of politics hounds its own out of office. Trial by parliament is determined by the numbers, not the evidence, and herein lies the problem with a code of conduct. If gross misconduct is countenanced by the majority party what does it matter if there is an explicit code or not.
Not that the present government has a majority in its own right, it relies on the independents and as the bard said,
some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them.
Clearly Shakespeare wasn’t talking about Windsor and Oakeshott. One is a dullard disguised as a decent local bloke who took a seat safely held by the National Party/Country Party since 1919 and delivered it into the hands of Labor. The other is a careerist without the discipline to belong to a party. Their prospects at the next election are not good. They have in fact achieved the highest of all levels of independence, not only have they turned their backs on party they have also turned their backs on their electorates and decency. They are representing no one but themselves.
Update …
Federal MP Craig Thomson now faces several inquiries and could be censured by parliament, but key independent MPs won’t back a push to suspend him because it would deny the former unionist natural justice.
Whilst Mark Latham sees it differently …
So the whole thing reeks of hypocrisy. Thomson should be judged on a moral standard not a criminal standard and on that moral standard he’s as guilty as sin.
bobmcgee 