Daily Telegraph editorial: End the eastern suburb’s cocaine culture
While sentencing socialite Kristin Fisher for drug possession, Magistrate Ross Hudson has lashed out at the rampant eastern suburbs cocaine culture — with good reason.
Opinion
Don't miss out on the headlines from Opinion. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The late comedian Robin Williams once quipped: “Cocaine is God’s way of telling you you are making too much money.”
If that is the case, then Sydney’s eastern suburbs must be even more loaded than many people realise – and not just with illicit stimulants.
Despite a single gram of the damaging and addictive drug costing anywhere between $250 and $500, Bondi resident Lauri Meyer said that, pre-lockdown, cocaine was a standard eastern suburbs party accessory.
“Whenever you go to a house party there is always people doing bags of coke,” Meyer, who moved to Sydney’s east from her native France three years ago, told The Daily Telegraph.
“Especially Aussie people, all my Aussie mates go crazy for cocaine.”
Understandably, this has become all too much for Magistrate Ross Hudson.
During his sentencing of socialite Kristin Fisher on Wednesday for possessing two bags of cocaine in Bondi earlier in 2021, Magistrate Hudson lashed out at the rampant eastern suburbs cocaine culture.
“The eastern suburbs of Sydney must be becoming fed up with drug dealing in this state. It really is a stain on our community,” Magistrate Hudson told Waverley Local Court.
“In terms of people who think cocaine and other drugs are just acceptable, that they are part of our fabric, that they are part of a night out … they are not. It (cocaine) is a criminal, illegal drug.”
For good measure, Police Minister David Elliott also slammed the cashed-up, coke-crazed eastern suburbs.
“This whole cocaine culture, particularly in the eastern suburbs, has to end,” Minister Elliott said.
“It’s an illegal substance for good reason. No one, regardless of celebrity status or influence, should be allowed to pollute our community with illicit drugs.”
Mr Elliott added: “I would encourage the judiciary to treat every drug matter as if the offender had been caught selling death pills to their own kids.”
That is very sound advice.
Quite aside from the destructiveness and criminality, there are other compelling reasons to shun cocaine.
If people are sending money indirectly to overseas cocaine suppliers, they are denying potential profits to legitimate Australian businesses.
Cocaine use is unpatriotic.
VACCINATION TARGET HIT, SO WHY HOLD BACK?
The word “Bam” is rarely deployed by state Premiers, but Dominic Perrottet was justified in its use on Wednesday.
“Bam. We’ve hit 70 per cent of over-16s double vaccinated in NSW,” the new Premier announced online.
“This is great news and big step closer to a full reopening and a proper summer.”
It definitely is good news — so much so that reopening should not now be needlessly delayed, not even until Monday.
After all, just last month then-Treasurer Perrottet revealed that chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant was perfectly content to commence reopening NSW as soon as 70 per cent vaccination were reached.
“She’s very happy at 70 per cent,” Perrottet said, “and obviously we will have further restrictions released at the 80 per cent mark.”
So why the delay? Why wait until Monday for certain restrictions to be lifted when we’ve already had our “bam” moment?
According to newly sworn in Deputy Premier Paul Toole, a delay until Monday is necessary because various businesses are not ready for a more rapid return to commercial activity.
“They’ve got to ensure that they’ve actually got the supplies, they’ve got the produce,” the Deputy Premier said.
But many businesses are able to reopen at a moment’s notice. There seems little reason to hold them back simply because other businesses may take a few days to get back up to speed.
Back in August, the Doherty Institute, whose modelling informs the government’s tactics, also cited 70 per cent as a safe point for reopening.
“There is light at the end of the tunnel,” the Institute reported. “Once we achieve 70-80 per cent vaccination we will see less transmission of Covid-19 and fewer people with severe illness, and therefore fewer hospitalisations and deaths.”
Let’s get moving, then, and quit our dependence on arbitrarily-selected, bureaucracy-enforced timelines.
As well, there are practical benefits to reopening now rather than next week. As Professor Peter Collingnon points out, restoring freedoms now will prevent people from congregating in large numbers on Monday and Tuesday night.
“Visiting your family on a Sunday afternoon in the backyard is much safer than visiting them on Monday night inside,” he said.
There you have it. Bam
LEFT’S HYPOCRISY ON PREMIER’S RELIGION
Some 135 years after Sir Patrick Alfred Jennings became the first practising Catholic premier of NSW, Dominic Perrottet is now our state’s leader.
Anti-Catholic bigotry was a major issue back in Sir Patrick’s time. Likewise, the new Premier’s openly expressed religious faith is evidently a problem now for many on the left.
Or so they would have us believe. In fact, the left’s focus on Perrottet’s Catholicism is nothing but cynical and divisive political opportunism.
This is made abundantly clear by the left’s treatment of a previous Catholic premier.
Those currently attacking Perrottet had no concerns at all about Catholicism when Labor’s Kristina Keneally was in office.
Keneally’s master’s thesis at university was on the Catholic Church. She taught at a Catholic school. She met her future husband at Catholic World Youth Day in Poland in 1991.
In Australia, one of Keneally’s first jobs was with the Catholic charity Society of St Vincent De Paul. She attended, for a time, the Australian Catholic University.
And her beliefs were ever-present in state politics.
Keneally’s maiden speech to parliament in 2003 celebrated her Catholic faith.
In 2007, Keneally crossed the floor in opposition to overturning a ban on embryonic stem cell research.
And nobody, quite rightly, gave Keneally any grief for this. She was not pilloried as an extremist or a religious obsessive.
The same decency deserves to be extended to Dominic Perrottet, who on Tuesday made a promising beginning to his premiership.
Describing himself as a “family Premier” during his last press conference prior to being sworn in, Perrottet said his aim is to improve the lives of “our tradies, our working mums and dads, small-business owners, community groups and frontline workers”.
All of this is consistent with Perrottet’s vision of government not as a smothering, over-protective, intrusive force but as an agency of assistance.
“No matter who you are, where you come from or what you believe,” Perrottet said, “it is the greatest privilege of my life to represent and serve every one of you.”
That declaration of tolerance echoed lines from Labor prime minister Paul Keating in a 1994 interview. “One thing I think that I picked up as a kid in a Catholic school was the church would never have a bar of racism,” Keating said.
“We all arrived equally, we’re all children of Christ. That’s their view. And that’s always been part of my belief, that everyone has an innate dignity.”
Note: as with Keneally, nobody on the left had any problems with Keating’s faith influencing his politics. And nor should they.
Perrottet spoke at length on Tuesday about rebuilding NSW following the ravages of the pandemic. Significantly, his primary attention was on work and the economy.
“On Monday, the state opens up,” Perrottet said.
“And we want to get people back into work, get businesses open again. That is the sole focus of our government today.”
Perrottet’s approach may be perfectly timed.
As vaccination totals continue to climb and Monday’s reopening occurs, NSW very much needs an employment-driven attitude across the board – starting at the very top.
Nowhere in the state is this more crucial than in Western Sydney, our economic and social engine room.
Noting the government’s prior and continuing focus on that vital region, Perrottet referred to his Deputy Premier.
“Stuart Ayres is a fighter,” the Premier said. “He is somebody who sits in cabinet fighting for the people of Western Sydney.”
As he should. Additionally, Perrottet made an observation about Western Sydney often missed, sometimes even by experienced political observers: “The values of our party, the aspiration, the work ethic, the opportunity for a fair go, they are fundamental values of Western Sydney.”
Two final historical points. When he came to office in 1886, Sir Patrick Alfred Jennings did so because the previous premier, John Robertson, resigned.
And one of the big controversies of the era was whether Australia should unite as a federation or remain as divided states. Sound familiar?
BY-ELECTIONS A MIXED BLESSING FOR PERROTTET
The good news for likely new NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet is that he is about to receive a very clear idea of how voters rate the Coalition’s performance.
Following the resignations of Premier Gladys Berejiklian, Nationals leader John Barilaro and Transport Minister Andrew Constance, three by-elections will be scheduled in short order – possibly on December 4.
But the bad news for the incoming Premier could be in the results of those by-elections.
Typically, state and federal by-elections favour opposition parties and independents over governments of the day.
In fact, the last time an opposition party lost a seat to a government at a federal by-election was more than 100 years ago.
So the Coalition might take a few hits when these three by-elections eventually take place.
Against that, all three seats have handy Coalition margins.
A swing of 21 per cent would be required to shift Berejiklian’s seat of Willoughby away from the government.
Likewise, Constance’s seat of Bega would only leave the Liberals if they suffered a swing of seven per cent. And Barilaro’s Monaro also seems secure with a margin of 11.6 per cent.
Still, by-elections can generate odd outcomes. A focus on local issues sometimes overrides state or federal concerns.
As The Daily Telegraph reports, Liberals believe Willoughby could be vulnerable to a high-profile independent.
Nationals leader Barilaro takes with him from Monaro a significant personal electoral appeal that may be difficult for his replacement to duplicate.
So there are definite challenges ahead. Dominic Perrottet said this week that the pandemic is a greater priority than politics, but he’ll need a great deal of political and campaigning skill to keep those seats safe.
And that is without the further difficulties that may arise if any additional Coalition MPs stand down.
Consider just how quickly everything could change for Labor, should government candidates underperform in the upcoming by-elections.
Chris Minns became Labor leader 123 days ago following Jodi McKay’s resignation. Labor were adrift. Three months later, Labor could be in the box seat.
McKay’s resignation, of course, was brought about by the Upper Hunter by-election. A lot rides on these polls.
WHAT A PERROTTET PREMIERSHIP MEANS FOR NSW
The deal hasn’t yet been completely sealed, but as of Sunday evening it appears highly probable that Treasurer Dominic Perrottet will become the 46th premier of NSW.
Perrottet’s ascension was all but secured through various factional arrangements. Yes, the Liberal Party has factions, contrary to then-prime minister Malcolm Turnbull’s 2018 assurance otherwise.
Let us consider, then, exactly what a Perrottet premiership may mean for our state.
On a purely political level, it may take time for the Treasurer to calm some raw feelings within the Coalition government.
Gladys Berejiklian’s resignation has exposed certain rifts. “A lot of people are saying ‘anyone but Perrottet’, and that’s a problem in a marginal seat like Heathcote,” the member for Heathcote, government MP Lee Evans, said on Sunday.
“The silvertail North Shore thing, that is an issue with the two current frontrunners (Perrottet and likely next treasurer Matt Kean).”
Factional tensions are the reason why the transfer of power from Berejiklian to her successor has not run as smoothly as during other recent Liberal leadership changes. Indeed, if the leadership contest is still alive when Liberals convene on Tuesday, it will be the first time the Liberals have voted on a new leader in nearly 20 years.
But that’s just politics. Of greater significance is how Perrottet will influence the state.
It could be, as John Howard once accurately said in 1986 of his own rise to power, that the times will suit Perrottet.
The current Treasurer is determinedly pro-commerce and pro-liberty, which could be a potent combination as NSW emerges from the coronavirus pandemic.
NSW needs a leader who sees opportunity rather than focusing obsessively over risk. In this sense, Perrottet would continue Berejiklian’s approach but with added energy.
Perrottet hinted at that during comments to media.
“The last 18 months have been incredibly tough,” Perrottet said, “but I have no doubt that NSW will come through this difficult time, just like we did last year, to not just recover, but to come out the other side much stronger.”
“Much stronger” would be a fine theme for a refreshed NSW government to pursue.
The Daily Telegraph, printed and published by the proprietor, Nationwide News Pty Ltd A.C.N. 008438828 of 2 Holt St, Surry Hills NSW 2010, at 26-52 Hume Highway, Chullora. Responsibility for election comment is taken by the Editor, Ben English.
A year since October 7, what has happened to Australia?
As protests around the world mark a year since the October 7 attack on Israel, US correspondent Tom Minear says he does not recognise how Australia has changed since then.
Are you sabotaging your child’s future?
With so many students becoming more anxious, distracted and sleep-deprived, this neuroscience expert is proposing parents implement these measures now, before it is too late.