Government can't backflip on culture

While no fair minded person would deny the merit in bringing the Jack Johnson saga to end we must not ignore the fact that the total cost of this matter will likely be well in excess of $1million of tax payer funds. The final bill could be even larger given that we still don’t know the final cost of the mishandled Richard McCreadie appointment.

When considered in the context of what has been a litany of publicly funded pay-outs and legal bills incurred in dealing with senior government appointments and other ministerial misconduct, people are entitled to conclude that this Labor government is besieged by a culture of recklessness, self interest, mismanagement and ineptitude.

Despite the government recently attempting to rid itself of the full brunt of public outrage on numerous policy fronts through a series of policy backflips, it cannot simply backflip on the issue of culture. Culture, good or bad, is the true essence of any government and it cannot be so easily undone.

If David Bartlett has proven anything in his 18 months as Premier it is that he stands for nothing. It can be safely assumed that under his leadership Tasmanians could only expect more of the same. Enough is enough. Tasmanians need and deserve better than this Labor government is able to deliver.