MEMBER for Murray Helen Dalton claims that corruption is “rampant” across NSW.
“Governments are using taxpayers’ money as their personal slush fund,” she said in her speech on a Bill to strengthen the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) in State Parliament.
ICAC is responsible for investigating and eliminating corrupt activities in NSW.
“Sports rorts, dodgy dams, dodgy Daryl, Watergate, bushfire relief pork-barrelling, council grant scandals, pipeline rorts, foreign corporates using government water accounts, secret emails from government officials favouring irrigator groups — a new scandal emerges every single day,” Mrs Dalton said on Wednesday.
“But the government survives and thrives, with no consequences, no apologies, no resignations.
“If we do not address this issue now, we will descend into a banana republic.
“That is no exaggeration. Having proper rules and accountability over how taxpayers’ money is spent is what separates First World democracies from Third World dictatorships.
“We need to draw a line in the sand and say enough is enough.”
Mrs Dalton accused ICAC of becoming lapdogs under the NSW Government.
“They are terrified of losing their funding and thus are unable to do their job properly,” she said.
“Nobody wants to bite the hand that feeds them.
“Over the past year I have reported numerous scandals to ICAC and the Ombudsman. I have provided clear evidence of councils misusing ratepayers’ money and bureaucrats favouring certain groups and excluding others.
“But I keep getting the same response: ‘Yes, that sounds bad, but we’ve decided not to investigate.’”
Mrs Dalton said the Bill was to ensure the bodies entrusted to oversee governments were independently and properly funded.
“It does that by allowing the annual funding to those bodies to be allocated separately from funding to other agencies and to be free from political interference,” she said.
“This is absolutely essential to democracy. It is the first step in curtailing the scourge of corruption that is undermining our society and economy.”
