Hatzistergos and The Shooters Debacle

Today's Daily Telegraph declares that the once cozy relationship between Labor and The Shooters Party is over. Robert Brown of The Shooters Party is reported as saying:

"Whatever goodwill there was is now gone."

Labor is unable to govern the state now because it cannot obtain passage for its bills. It has held 19 spots in the Legislative Council out of a total of 42. It has relied on Fred Nile and The Shooters in the past to govern. Now Labor is forced into a bizarre situation of negotiating deals with Gordon Moyes, Fred Nile, The Greens and even The Coalition.

The Daily Telegraph reports that there are 13 Bills already before the Parliament awaiting passage, and many more pieces are meant to be introduced between now and November. While a few bills may squeak through, Labor is essentially paralysed in its efforts to govern the state.

On previous occasions the deadlock in Parliament has been discussed on this blog.

What readers need to be really clear about is the back-room story that the mainstream media has failed to fully tell about how the deadlock arose (e.g. see today's edition of The Australian which completely misses out on what is stated here and curiously says that Labor had to placate the Greens in June but never explains why they had to at all).

The problem is all related back to one little item that was included in last year's mini-budget, an item that Labor expected would pass unnoticed by the public and hence sail through Parliament without much dissent. It was announced in the mini-budget that the Public Trustee NSW and Office of the Protective Commissioner would be merged ostensibly to save $100,000 p.a. and to reduce red tape. The proposed merger met with immediate objections from the disability sector in December 2008, and was soon followed by members of the public writing letters of objection to members of Parliament and to the Attorney General.

The greater majority of clients of both organisations were essentially not informed about the proposed merger. As criticisms developed it became apparent that the merger was a measure designed to take the Protective Commissioner off the state budget and for the Public Trustee to use its surplus funds to pick up the tab. For a few years the Protective Commissioner's community service obligation budget has been rising while NSW Treasury's support declined to a pittance.

The acceleration of criticism continued unabated until June 5 when the NSW Trustee and Guardian bill was introduced into Parliament. When the second reading occurred in the Legislative Assembly the formal business debate was rigged so that none of the Independents were allowed to make speeches setting out their objections to the bill. The debate was confined to about 40 minutes in the evening with only 2 Liberal MPs speaking against the bill. It sailed through the lower house only because Labor had the numbers. Within 48 hours of that vote the heat was on in Parliament as disability advocates stepped up their contact with members of the minor parties and Coalition, and as members of the public handed up written submissions containing criticisms of the policy and the bill. It was by no means clear that the minor parties (including the Shooters) would support the bill.

The Attorney General John Hatzistergos and his director general Laurie Glanfield undertook a series of meetings to persuade the minor parties to back the Bill. The Greens had indicated all along that they were not happy with the merger. Clients of the two organisations had not been consulted or advised that a merger was proposed. A large segment of clients have only finally been advised that the merger happened in June via a new organisational newsletter called Connections that has been distributed this week!

Essentially at the eleventh hour a deal was brokered. The Greens gave their support to the merger while requiring Labor to undermine any support for the Shooters' bill on national parks. That was the straw that broke the camel's back. The Shooters were now in a state of conflict with Labor. On Tuesday 23 June 2009 the NSW Trustee and Guardian Bill had a second and third reading (including a Fred Nile amendment to protect employees' positions for a period of 5 years with no forced redundancies). It passed through the Legislative Council that day and was the very last Bill of the session to make it through!

Wednesday 24 June became the notorious day of bedlam as The Shooters refused to vote for any item of Government business. The Government had expected to introduce its sale of NSW Lotteries bill in the Legislative Council. Instead, a very long day of debate occurred on non-government motions. Just after midnight the Legislative Council was left frozen as the last Labor minister walked out leaving the Parliament high and dry.

It really seems to boil down to the lobbying of Hatzistergos and Glanfield that tipped the scales against the Shooters. It was all because of their determination to push the merger through with a formidable zeal that was disproportionate to the issue and the size of the two small agencies. It has been posed before: were they trying to somehow deflect attention from the tracks of budget deficits affecting the Protective Commissioner over several years?

No matter. The basic point is Labor is in the mess now because of the weird activity in lobbying all the way up to Tuesday 23 June to save the merger. Thanks to that lobbying The Shooters have had their big dummy spit and Labor is all at sea. So "thank you" Mr Hatzistergos and Mr Glanfield for your fanatical devotion to that merger. That helped to marginalise The Shooters and has further led to the unprecedented paralysis of the Legislative Council on 24 June, and which remains unresolved as of today 4 September. No doubt the Labor Cabinet is doing cartwheels for joy over this paralysis in governance.

How can this government be expected to complete a full-term of office? An election is needed to change the Government and to smash the deadlock associated with a single-issue party.

Whoopee for female senior counsel in NSW

It is comforting to know that the Attorney General's Department is committed to "equitable briefing" of matters from its agencies over to female members of the senior bar. The statistics published yesterday for the first 3 months of 2009 in NSW are so breath-taking! Wow! Isn't it a thrill to know that 14.7% of briefs were referred to female senior counsel, while 25.5% were referred to junior female counsel. Gee that truly represents balance, fairness and an equal share of the briefs! What a meaningless press release!

Upper House Stalemate - Who Caused It?

Members of Parliament resume formal business today in Macquarie Street after the winter recess. The Premier wants his lot "on track". The Legislative Council will re-open for business with the calendar stuck in the final week of June because it ground to a halt.



The fate of Labor rests with figuring out deals either for The Greens or Shooters to come on-side. The Shooters were approached by Graeme Wedderburn about possible trial runs of hunting in national parks. Has everyone forgotten why this predicament came about? The Shooters were dudded because Labor was desperate to pass another bill last June. The Greens agreed to support John Hatzistergos' and Laurie Glanfield's bill as long as Labor dumped on the national parks bill of The Shooters.

As Della Bosca fades into obscurity, one wonders how long will it be before history catches up on Mr Hatzistergos' time as Minister for Health, and in his current run as Attorney General. The problems at the NSW DPP will not vanish overnight no matter how many press releases are issued. Cosmetic make-overs to the surface appearance of the Attorney General's Department will not contain the negative facts about the mess it is in. If only an election could be called!