The Rum Corps Redux








Looking at the procession of NSW politicians recently caught by ICAC with their fingers in the till, it is hard to tell if this is a bizarre new reality television series called “Good politicians gone bad” or even “Politicians gone wild” or just a continuation of The Rum Corps type corruption which has plagued NSW since the earliest days of the colony. At this rate, ICAC is going to bring the paper bag industry to its knees within days.

For those who are playing catch up, the following laws are particularly relevant to donations by property developers (there is other legislation governing political donations but these are the main ones relating to property developers):

  1. Local Government and Planning Legislation Amendment (Political Donations) Act 2008, which commenced on 1 October 2008 requires the public disclosure of donations or gifts when lodging or commenting on development proposals. This law is designed to improve the transparency of the planning system; and
  2. Election Funding and Disclosures Amendment (Property Developers Prohibition) Act 2009, which commenced on 14 December 2009 made it an offence for a property developer to make a political donation as well as unlawful for a person to accept a political donation from a property developer.

Now stay with me people, this does get interesting.

So notwithstanding the above, and as a simple Google search will confirm, political donations to property developers have not stopped.

Call me crazy, but why would a property developer risk breaking the law and appearing in front of ICAC as well as incurring the various penalties, to give money to a politician for simply altruistic reasons. There must be something in it for them.

As Ted Mack (the only person ever to have been elected and re-elected as an independent to local, state, and federal government in Australia) said recently, the Labor and Liberal parties are “like two mafia families seeking control of the public purse for distribution to themselves, supporters, and the special interests who fund them”.

But should we be surprised? After all, I think this exchange from Yes Minister explained it all 30 years ago:



Hacker:             You’re a cynic, Humphrey!


Friends, Romans, Countrymen! Lend me your ears


Building Defects have been around longer than Shakespeare or the Romans.

It was actually Hammurabi who was the sixth king of Babylon (modern day Iraq) from 1728 BC – 1686 BC who established the set of laws called Hammurabi’s Code, one of the first written codes of law in recorded history. These laws were inscribed on stone tablets standing over eight feet tall (2.4 meters). Two of my favourites from the Code are set out below:


230.     If it causes the death of a son of the owner of the house, they shall put to death a son of that builder.

Following in Hammurabi’s footsteps, the Roman Emperor Nero used the devastation of the great fire of Rome in 64AD to change much of Rome and institute new building codes throughout the city.

After the Great London Fire of 1666AD, the English Parliament laboured for 2 years over the writing of the “London Building Act”. However, in the two years after the fire, much of London was rebuilt using the same poor practices.

So the question is, if man has not been able to get building codes right in the last 4,000 years, is  it likely he is going to get them right today?