NSW ministers are like skittles and yesterday came news another had fallen over. NSW Ports and Waterways Minister Paul McLeay gave his resignation to Premier Kristina Keneally yesterday.
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But he, like many before him, seemed to bowl the balls at himself.
Mr McLeay accessed gambling and adult websites on his parliamentary computer.
This time, because of the parliamentary computer, there can be no discussion about if this was a private matter.
In the past four months we’ve seen ministers come and go, or not go, because of their actions in a part of life some deem private.
In May Penrith MP Karyn Paluzzano quit parliament after admitting to lying to a corruption inquiry about misusing public funds.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) has recommended criminal charges be laid against her.
In the same month Transport Minister David Campbell quit the ministry after being filmed leaving a gay sex club in Kensington, in the premier’s electorate.
Some say he should not have been filmed because it related to his private life but we judge our politicians on what we know about them.
Didn’t he bring his family forward and say here I am a family man vote for me, not here I am a Ken’s of Kensington patron?
Then in June, State Development Minister Ian Macdonald quit parliament after claims he misused taxpayer funds on a trip to the Middle East.
Ms Keneally referred the allegations to the ICAC.
It goes on: the departure of former minister John Della Bosca from politics months after his extramarital affair, MP Cherie Burton holding on to her political career but not her driver’s licence and Cessnock MP Kerry Hickey’s offer to resign after fathering a baby during an affair.
Premier Keneally rejected the offer saying the matter was a private affair.
Mr McLeay’s departure leaves another hole in a decimated ministry.
It’s getting to the point where the premier will not have anyone with experience to put into ministerial positions.
New minister after new minister does lead to a weaker government.
How can they build up knowledge of their portfolio if they’re continually moving around like musical chairs?
That does not lead to good policy ideas.
It leads to a situation where the bureaucrats hold even more power, because no minister is in a position to question them.
And the bureaucrats won’t make sure we get a new hospital or the police numbers we need, or the public secondary education system we want.
So Mr McLeay’s career might have been brought down by porn and gambling, but really the government is cheating us of the leadership we deserve.
