OPEN LETTER TO BARRY O'FARRELL, PREMIER OF NEW SOUTH WALES RE HIS OUTRAGEOUS ATTACKS THROUGH THE MEDIA ON CLOVER MOORE MP!
PO Box 1675
Preston South
Vic 3072
ATTENTION NEW SOUTH WALES PREMIER BARRY O'FARRELL
Dear Barry,
You were recently elected to the parliament of New South Wales in what is considered a democratic election in Australia and the states and territories which are the parts of this country.
When you were elected, several other people were also elected under the same democratic process. People voted for the candidates of their choice and you were able to form government because those you represent obtained a majority in the new parliament.
You might like to bear in mind that there were also people elected who were not of your party and they have as legitimate a right to sit in that parliament as you have.
One big hat is more than enough for Clover Moore, Barry O'Farrell says
* From: The Daily Telegraph
* June 06, 2011 12:00AM
Clover Moore
Sydney Lord Mayor ... Clover Moore. Source: The Daily Telegraph
BARRY O'Farrell has signalled the end of Clover Moore's two-hat reign over Sydney, deeming it a "conflict of interest".
After Ms Moore, who is both an MP and Sydney Lord Mayor, was slammed yesterday for missing a week of parliament while on a council trip to Brazil and New York, Mr O'Farrell said "being an MP is a full time job".
Mr O'Farrell said Local Government Minister Don Page will be told to find a way to stop mayors also acting as MPs before the September council elections.
Mayors in other states, including Queensland, are banned from drawing two public pay packets.
Mr O'Farrell said about a third of an MP's work dealt with complaints about councils.
"If you're a constituent in the seat of Sydney and you've got a concern about your local council, who do you complain to?," he said.
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Related Coverage
* MP Moore too busy, says O'Farrell Perth Now, 1 day ago
* Stop double dipping mayors The Daily Telegraph, 2 days ago
* Time to slash councils and red tape The Daily Telegraph, 9 days ago
* Time for the double-dippers to choose The Daily Telegraph, 21 May 2011
* MPs who won't give up second job The Daily Telegraph, 21 May 2011
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After Mr O'Farrell's attack, Ms Moore's press office circulated a three-page paper on her achievements. "Holding down two roles, as parliamentarian and lord mayor, puts me in a unique position to get things done," she claimed.
The attacks which you and your colleagues and the media have been waging against one of the members of the parliament are undemocratic and unconstitutional. The statements being made in these attacks are patently false and misleading and are done with the intention of totally discrediting one of the longest and hardest working members of the New South Wales parliament.
If it is the intention of your government to change the laws thus preventing people like Clover Moore from representing the people who voted for her at local government and state levels you are subverting the democratic process in the country and you will be remembered for these actions at the next election.
It is a known fact that most politicians treat their constituents with contempt, believing that the politician knows better than the people he/she is representing.
However, the evidence points to the fact that in the long run it is the politician who has underestimated the power of the electorate, and when voters are bombarded with spin and distortion, the voters remember at the next election.
New South Wales has been in a sorry state for many years and is now about to enter an even darker and sorrier state.
If you and your government have any integrity left, you will order an immediate cessation of attacks on Clover Moore by the government and the media you are so fond of supporting when it suits you but equally fond of condemning when they turn against you and personally attack you.
Gutter journalism is not the approach the premier of a state the size of New South Wales should indulge in – it will come back to bite you by the next election.
This will assuredly happen as you approach the next election which is only 3 years away.
I have been involved in politics in one way and another for at least 70 of my 84 years, of which at least 22 years were lived in the state of NSW. NSW voters are notoriously fickle as you may find to your cost as you set out to damage what little is left of integrity in the democratic processes in your state. If you want to make sure yours is a one-term government, you are helping the situation along with these unwarranted attacks. Have no other members of the NSW parliament been absent for a week at a time – or more – on affairs involving state - or other business - matters – all parties being equally involved?
Mannie De Saxe, Lesbian and Gay Solidarity
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