How to keep the bastards honest

The AIM Network

8 years ago

By Bob Rafto

The political parties are incorporated businesses which makes them subject to the laws of the ACCC.

A political party is an organisation that offers a service of governing the country and a selection of candidates of that party are put forward to win the contract of governing, being a 3 year term.

There is a mystique around political parties that is mired in BS and spin that elected candidates of the parties can mislead and deceive the people who awarded them the contract at will.

Statutory definition of misleading and deceptive conduct

“a person must not, in trade or commerce, engage in conduct that is misleading or deceptive or likely to mislead or deceive”.

As a case study, if one looks at the statements made by Abbott prior to the 2013 election, he publicly stated that there would be no cuts to Health and Education.

The 2014 budget included cuts to Health and Education.

This is a clear case of Misleading and Deceptive Conduct which was evidenced by the major public backlash to the cuts. Mr Abbott knew the only way to get the people’s contract was by deception. This is a serious breach of the ACCC law and the LNP would have incurred a substantial penalty, however, I’m of the view it was deliberate fraud and should have been dealt in the criminal court.

Representations as to future matters

A representation that something will occur in the future may be misleading and deceptive conduct if the person making the representation does not have reasonable grounds for making the representation.[15] Representations to the effect that:

a loan will be repaid with interest,[16] or
that changes in government spending will positively affect the business,[17]

have been held to constitute misleading and deceptive conduct as to future matters.

Another case study that should be examined.

It has been claimed continuously by the LNP that the Adani mine will create 10,000 jobs, even though a representative of Adani stated only 1,400 jobs would be created. Again, this is a misleading statement designed to deceive to procure a $1 billion loan to Adani being against the people’s wishes.

I’m sure there are enough case studies generated by the LNP to keep the ACCC busy for years, however, any organization that is incorporated that operates in the political arena are also subject to the ACCC laws, such as unions and lobby groups.

The people have had a gut full of being misled and it shows in the polls.

A single complaint to the ACCC won’t cut it. It will be ignored. It will take an estimated 50,000 names and signatures.

This hasn’t been tried before but it would be interesting to see how the ACCC would react to receiving 50,000 complaints, or would political pressure be applied to the ACCC to fend off the complaints with spin. Insufficient evidence is the most common spin offered by the cops.

Before you dismiss me as looney – although I do admit of having bouts of it infrequently normally around the full moon – I researched planning legislation, TPA and the criminal law on and off for 2 years.

I was sick and tired of expensive property lawyers and I came across a statute that enabled me to sue the BCC for $2.2 million for damages … a statute that had never been used before, no precedent anywhere, and it was watertight.

I took it all the way up to the High Court representing myself for a cost of around $5K and they weren’t going to allow me to win because of the scandal that would have erupted in ‘why the Council had to pay out a $2M sum’ and in no doubt would have seen the jailing of Campbell Newman, the BCC CEO and 2 planners plus others. It was a conspiracy by the Bligh Govt, Newman’s Council, the police, the CMC and the Queensland Ombudsman to pervert the course of justice on a grand scale, and covering up extortion and fraudulent certificates. And if one reads the court transcripts they will reveal the corrupt decisions of the judges.

Just to give a taste of the court of appeal transcript: Supreme Court Judge admits that a court registrar attempted to stand over me to withdraw my claim but it was of no consequence as he was dismissing my claim. And dismissing a crime as well. I also caught out a Council solicitor for perjury and the judge turned a blind eye to that and it’s all in the transcripts.

From my experience I believe that my ACCC argument has legs and the capacity of keeping the bastards honest.