…our list is a genuine plea for you to bring us a greatly improved integrity-related system that addresses all the shortcomings in the current arrangements.
Dear Santa,
I am writing this wish list on behalf of the vast majority of Victorians. Please don’t think we are being greedy as that is not our intention. Rather, our list is a genuine plea for you to bring us a greatly improved integrity-related system that addresses all the shortcomings in the current arrangements. If, yet again, you are unable to grant our wishes because powerful members of the government and some parliamentarians prevent you from doing so, could you please put a note in all their Christmas stockings advising we will continue to demand integrity-related reform all the way to the next election.
We appreciate that you are probably sick of us asking for many of the same things but we have to do so because most of the time governments deliver as little as possible in the accountability and transparency space. You may not believe this Santa, but it’s true; the recently retired, long serving Premier, Daniel Andrews recently said, on social media of course, that there is “not an accountability officer that doesn’t want more money, more power”. No Santa, that is not a Christmas joke and it’s not the 1st April.
You might be wondering why we continually ask you for these type of reforms. It’s because we trust you more than our MPs. We do so as we know you are not an MP turned lobbyist seeking to influence serving MPs’ decisions. We also know you have never paid an excessive amount of money to have a meal with senior ministers and other influential members of parliament or pursued large cash donations or in-kind services to win or hold onto power.
We also know Santa that you do not use consultant reindeers that charge inordinate amounts of money to determine which route you should use to make your deliveries and to virtually decide for you if you need more sleds and reindeers to complete your Victorian deliveries on time and on budget.
Talking of budgets, we expect a wise person like you did not adopt many of the strategies our governments have since 2014. If you had you would be in serious debt, just like the people of Victoria are. Did you know Santa our debt is significantly higher than any state government and our government told us a couple of days go that an additional $10 billion has just been added to our skyrocketing debt because of the never-ending cost blow-outs to infrastructure spending. If you happen to have an effective debt reduction strategy in your sack, could you please bring us that also as we desperately need it.
We also trust you Santa as you have not sought to further concentrate your considerable power by employing an extraordinary number of “advisers” in your North Pole office. Our government has a similar office and it employs staff equal to that employed in the prime ministers and NSW premier’s office, combined!
While Victoria’s new Premier, Jacinta Allen, has not been as offensive as the former Premier to distinguished Victorians, she is proving to be as dismissive of the findings of our independent anti-corruption bodies. Sadly, her response to the most recent Ombudsman’s report is not surprising as history clearly shows that the most strident, dismissive critics of anti-corruption bodies are MPs. It’s because independent anti-corruption bodies are one of the very few institutions that can expose the unacceptable conduct of the many MPs who place personal and party interest before all else. Could you please bring those MPs a sack full of the public interest this Christmas.
And another thing Santa, you might recall that many years ago you thought you had granted our wish for Freedom Of Information. What you may not realise however, is that you got our wish mixed up with that of the majority of MPs and mistakenly left us Freedom From Information. We will leave the ‘From’ version with the refreshments we put out for you each year and you can leave us the ‘Of’ version we asked for. We desperately need that version Santa, as Victorians fund the salaries and perks of MPs and also public servants’ wages but neither want to grant us access to the information that informs their decisions. Why do you think that is Santa?
Oh, and one last wish Santa. Please also collect the recently released Ministerial Code of Conduct as it is not fit for purpose. We require a code that does not concentrate power in the already too powerful Premier’s office. We will leave the Code beside the Freedom From Information package. Please take both with you.
We close by wishing you, your frank and fearless reindeers and the elves a happy time as you do your best to deliver us the much-needed reforms we have asked for.
Dear Santa, Victorians in particular really need your help
10
1
23.12.2023
…our list is a genuine plea for you to bring us a greatly improved integrity-related system that addresses all the shortcomings in the current arrangements.
Dear Santa,
I am writing this wish list on behalf of the vast majority of Victorians. Please don’t think we are being greedy as that is not our intention. Rather, our list is a genuine plea for you to bring us a greatly improved integrity-related system that addresses all the shortcomings in the current arrangements. If, yet again, you are unable to grant our wishes because powerful members of the government and some parliamentarians prevent you from doing so, could you please put a note in all their Christmas stockings advising we will continue to demand integrity-related reform all the way to the next election.
We appreciate that you are probably sick of us asking for many of the same things but we have to do so because most of the time governments deliver as little as possible in the accountability and transparency space. You may not believe this Santa, but it’s true; the recently retired, long serving Premier, Daniel Andrews recently said, on social media of course, that there is “not an accountability........
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