Lurks and perks

Sue Neales Mercury comment
But more serious questions about propriety have rightfully been asked about why Police Minister Jim Cox, accompanied by his wife Elaine, is on the tour. Mr Cox will quit politics at the March 2010 election. He intended to retire a year ago, but stayed on reluctantly because it was thought the Labor Government could not endure any more instability. Both those facts make this “last hurrah” trip by Mr Cox appear a juicy reward for loyal service and little else. So too does the presence of Mr Cox’s wife on the tour. Not to mention the exorbitant cost of more than $20,000 a person for the 16-day trip, which is clearly not being run on a student-level budget. Why too, when Premier David Bartlett made such a song and dance on Monday about announcing that Infrastructure Minister Graeme Sturges would become Tasmania’s first Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, was Mr Cox there at all? It made the claim that anointing Mr Sturges as Minister for Veterans’ Affairs was not about winning more votes in Denison at the next election ring rather hollow. More significantly, the timing of the clearly lavish overseas trip for Mr Cox was a shocker. Read more here