Besseling is on a bus to nowhere

THE sad tale of independent State MP Peter Besseling's campaign bus really tells it all.

The former State Transport Authority clunker has carried banners for Kevin '07, it has been the flag bearer for Julia Gillard and federal Labor MPs Belinda Neale and Craig Thompson and it was wheeled out to support federal independent Rob Oakeshott. Now it's off the road, possibly permanently. Besseling hints that political foes were behind an oil leak that last week led to a three-car pile-up. He has linked a leaky sump plug to claimed threats allegedly made to his wife. Some background may be instructive. Besseling was a key staffer in Rob Oakeshott's office when Oakeshott personally intervened in a pollution issue involving the Birdon Group, a ship repair and dredging group and a campaign contributor. Oakeshott defended the group when he was a State MP. Though accused of polluting the Hastings River, the company was not prosecuted after advice that a prosecution would not be successful. Last year the Birdon Group said it complied "at all times with its environmental obligations and responsibilities." Oakeshott's intervention was clearly successful. A clean-up of the allegedly polluted area was underway when The Australian newspaper exposed the issue. Besseling, who has not volunteered any comment on whether he was party to any of the discussions between Birdon and Oakeshott, took no action on the Birdon case after riding Oakeshott's coattails to become the Port Macquarie MP in 2008. Besseling holds the seat with a margin of 4.5 per cent and his principal challenger is the Nationals candidate Leslie Williams, a local woman with a solid community reputation gained through hospital work. Besseling is one of three independents being targeted by the Nationals - the others being Dawn Fardell, a time-server from Dubbo, and Peter Draper from Tamworth. It is worth noting that none of these independents - Besseling, Fardell or Draper - ever supported the Opposition's no-confidence motions against what is now recognised as the worst state government in the nation's history. Fardell, who has a margin of 0.9 per cent, should lose in a landslide to former police officer Troy Grant, who has contributed new ideas to cope with the problems posed by youthful indigenous criminals, helped steer kids who might otherwise have been lost to a life of crime into meaningful and productive employment and demonstrated the sort of character needed to chase and prosecute some of the state's worst criminals, including a notorious paedophile. The independents have not distinguished themselves in Parliament. They provided support for the Green-Left NSW State Government as it squandered the heritage of the state and the economic future of coming generations. Their fates would be sealed if they were paid-up members of the ALP but they are still hoping to hoodwink some voters in their electorates into thinking that they have displayed some independence of thought rather than doing, as the record shows, Labor's bidding whenever necessary. They did not lift a finger to check the excesses of NSW Labor as it looted the Treasury and plundered the fortunes of what was once proudly called the Premier State. They deserve the same political fate next week as those they chose to support. They are political opportunists, notorious political turncoats just like Oakeshott, and they must be replaced by individuals with the character and qualifications to make a positive contribution to the state and nation. The independents and Country Labor MPs deserved to be tossed out. The Keneally Government has pandered to the inner urban Green-tinted activists at the expense of the rural community. It has permitted bike lanes to choke Sydney when it should have been building highways and ports to help those who provide the backbone of the economy get about their business. Regional NSW is becoming more important than ever with more families being driven by rising city costs to explore opportunities elsewhere. They are already aware of the effect of Labor's policies on the rising cost of living. The independents will pay a high price for uncritically sitting on their hands as the NSW Labor Government descended into chaos. It should be a deserved foretaste of the fate awaiting their federal partners in crime. For Besseling, it would seem that the bus has already left.