That Iguana Thing

I rue the day that the Watergate office-apartment-hotel complex was built in 1967. Or maybe I should be ruing that the Democratic National Committee moved their headquarters there – and that Nixon decided to authorise robbing their asses. Either way, I have a lot of regrets that the aforementioned Watergate scandal became so damn famous that every political scandal hence forth needed a –gate suffix. Lewinsky-gate, Camilla-gate, Nipple-gate… there’s a million of them, too often coined by people not alive in 1972, or aware of the true origins of the name. It makes a man’s ruing fist ache with over use. The latest addition is a local one, Iguana-gate, referring to John Della Bosca and wife Belinda Neal running amok at Iguanas Waterfront Bar.

It only happened two weeks ago, but already I wish I was born without ears. Talk about over reporting. The hapless oppositions in both state and federal parliament have seized on the incident and have devoted most of their ‘question time’ questions to ‘getting to the bottom’ of the affair. In NSW, Labor is taking a beating, primarily because of the culture of corruption and abuse of power that is taking shape. Today, for the first time Barry O’Farrell out polled Morris Iemma as preferred Premier – something that I hope Iemma takes very personally; it’s like losing a popularity contest to a cardboard cut out. So far though at the federal level, Rudd has managed to float clear of Ms Neal’s scandal… but he’s not out of the woods yet.

My solution to this is twofold. For starters, Iemma has worn out his welcome with me. It’s time to bring him down. The media are speculating that the left wingers in the state Labor party are conspiring to over throw him and replace him with Carmel Tebbutt, Nathan Rees or even uninspiring John Watkins (I’m a Tebbutt man for the record) – something they should do post-haste. A clean slate is just what NSW needs right now, a purging of the corrupt mafia-esque cadre running the place. Axe Iemma, Della Bosca, Tripodi and my old mate Costa. The time for the rising of the left is here.

Second, Rudd should be sounding loud and clear that the era of arrogance and privilege associated with politics has passed - by making an example of Belinda Neal if necessary. The public are in a mood for change and for ‘new politics’ and have little tolerance for the old clichés. These include demanding a better table because you’re an MP, peer pressuring employees to doctor statutory declarations, and writing the club’s apology for them. Bringing (at least the pretense) of public service (and humility) back to the Public Service is the new black… get onboard or get run over by it.