scone.com.auEDITORIAL: Grubby Politics
YESTERDAY I interviewed a brave person who told me about his attempted suicide when he was in his 20’s.
What made him braver was that he was willing to tell his whole story with complete openness, warts and all: Standing by the Truth.
He answered all questions and laid his whole story bear.
Liam kept copies of his court files and there are hundreds of pages that document every detail of his case and while he could spend years going backwards and forwards in the media covering every detail, every detail has already been examined in court by a judge as it should be.
Liam Garment’s court file is closed and it is closed for good reason.
As most of our readers would know, scone.com.au publishes a court report because it is in the public interest and the law supports that public interest over the privacy considerations of the individual.
But the law doesn’t allow the general public to trawl through people’s records anytime they feel like it, which is why after a certain time records are closed, the law asserts that it is frankly no longer any of your business, as they should.
So, if for example you had a legitimate concern a candidate in the local election may have a criminal record that would preclude them from being on Council, the correct approach is to lodge your concerns with the NSW Electoral Commission.* – article has been updated see end of story.
But I was told the reason that was not seen as a viable option was because the Commission might not act before Saturday and then it became disgustingly clear that this had nothing to do with the public interest and fair legal process, it was all about preventing Liam Garment from being voted onto Council at any cost and destroying his reputation was completely acceptable.
If we are all so concerned, perhaps we implement random drug testing for our Councillors and they will all be exposed to the same standards?
On Saturday you can choose if you want to support a smear campaign and or you can choose to support the candidate who admits he made a terrible mistake when he was trying to take his own life at the age of 27.
Choose carefully about what kind of community we are, what kind of values we teach our young people and what kind of values we live by when you cast your ballot.
Related Story:
Elizabeth Flaherty
Editor of scone.com.au
*UPDATE: After calling the NSW Electoral Commission they have clarified they refer such matters to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal and people should lodge any concerns about candidates there to assess if a candidate should be excluded under the Local Government Act of 1993, under sections 274, 275, 276 and 283.