| Description |
1 online resource (streaming video file) (44 min. 17 sec.) ; 267622217 bytes |
| Summary |
Democracy is a powerful concept. But it doesn't come cheap. Running political parties and funding election campaigns costs millions of dollars. That makes politicians vulnerable to businesses willing to fund them or their party in return for favours.Next on Four Corners, reporter Linton Besser shows how a deal to win partial control of a major public utility opened the door on a web of alleged corruption, impacting both State and Federal politics, as well as players on both sides of the political divide.Assessing testimony given to the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) in forensic detail, talking with many of the key players and accessing new information, the program shows how the rules that are supposed to regulate political donations can be ignored or corrupted, not just in NSW but right across Australia.As former ICAC Commissioner David Ipp told Linton Besser:"One begins to fear that corruption might be far more widespread than was at first thought."The now retired Commissioner is not the only one concerned. Besser interviews former top NSW bureaucrat Kerry Schott, who resisted corrupting influences only to find herself the subject of spurious corruption allegations.We also hear from former Premier Kristina Keneally, respected Labor Senator John Faulkner, and Liberal Senator Bill Heffernan, who helped blow the whistle on corruption eating into his own party. Warning about the dangers in the current system, he says:"The most important qualification in public life, is not to have a price... every now and then you've got to have a cleanout, and at the present time there's a bit of a cleanout going on."Significantly, there is no Federal commission to fight corruption. The key questions now are how far will the clean up go and is there the political will to reform the regulations that govern political donations? |
| Event |
Broadcast 2014-06-23 at 20:30:00 |
| Notes |
Classification: NC |
| Subject |
Sydney Water Corporation.
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New South Wales. Independent Commission Against Corruption.
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Campaign funds -- Corrupt practices.
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Corruption investigation.
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Politicians -- Corrupt practices.
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Public-private sector cooperation.
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New South Wales -- Sydney.
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| Form |
Streaming video
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| Author |
O'Brien, Kerry, host
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Besser, Linton, reporter
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D'Souza, Ges, reporter
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Benjamin, Elana, contributor
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Brown, A.J., contributor
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Di Girolamo, Nick, contributor
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Graham, Bob, contributor
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Heffernan, Bill, contributor
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Ipp, David, contributor
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Keneally, Kristina, contributor
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Lusted, Matthew, contributor
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O'Farrell, Barry, contributor
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Phillips, Peter, contributor
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Pittard, Ashley, contributor
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Quill, Ron, contributor
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Schott, Kerry, contributor
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Watson, Geoffrey, contributor
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