“If I must not trust the conclusions of reason relative to the intrinsic value of things, why trust to your reasons in favour of the benefit of being deceived? If I must reject the dictates of reason in one point, there can be no possible cause why I should adopt them in another.” – William Godwin.

They didn’t sign up for any code of conduct standard, Mr Bowen. They’re the King’s ministers and as Pistol Pete says, ministers rule by discretion and being ministers, that means that their discretion is above challenge – no Fitzgerald Principles required; no back-chat. And, being neoLibNats, their conception of corruption is also not required to be the same conception of corruption the rest of us have – let us not forget; philosophy is character. There are rules and guidelines for some, and laws for the rest of us, and by appearances, a minister may ignore rules and guidelines, and of course, if one is to accidentally break .. or shall we say, bend .. the law, there’s always another minister lurking about who can exonerate them at that minister’s discretion. We can be sure, that regardless of appearances, the discretionary acts of a parliamentary contracted agent of the King is always beyond reproach. If, it appears to us ordinary folk that a rule or, God forbid, a law has been broken .. well, its not so; and that, says our King is because the discretion that a minister inherently holds is in reality a question of the reflection of the King’s divine light.

Meanwhile, back here on earth, we worry about the King’s destruction of democratic ideals, the future of the planet and the shadow of deceit held up to the world as Australian neo-humanitarianism, and they, the King’s Mighty Honest Men, they worry about their pay packets, privileges, and pensions. True, what more should a minister care about than whether they’re accumulating a sufficient hoard of public cash to get them through the next election, or, in building a better base for their future indiscretions. Huh?

So, regardless of whether Bridg – whose fallen alas, on the King’s sword – was a true sports fan or not, what we do know is, that being a minister of the King, her integrity was beyond reproach – she says so, MicMack Paddywhack says so, as of course, does the King’s butler. Beyond reproach!

Sure, the King’s butler does say she probably should have declared her interest in guns and ammo before she started handing out dosh to Gun Clubs … but then, being a farm girl, what idiot wouldnt have known of her interest in guns and clubs? And when the cash has obviously been placed at a ministers disposal – when its her’s to use as she sees fit – and the said minister is on the ball and doing her job properly, then one would have to expect that she’s going to dole it out to her favourites – no questions asked and certainly none answered!

Corruption. Wonderful stuff … and so discretionary. “She’s done nothing wrong,” says the minister for State Secrecy, “we all operate at our own discretion. That’s Demockracy.” he says. Yes yes, ’tis true. It must be quite a job having to continuously ignore a parliament in order to govern a country properly (and fairly) … One wonders why we keep one, a parliament that is, when government runs so much more smoothly when one has the balls to ignore it. Such mystique …

“Its instability … the potential for shifting allegiances, the tendency for principles to become their opposites, the total disregard for consistency paired with perversely rigid concern with doctrine – means that all judgements are based on an implicit acceptance of double standards. [Or as George Orwell remarked] “Actions are held to be good or bad, not on their own merits but according to who does them, there is almost no outrage … which does not change its moral colour when it is committed by ‘our side’.” – Kristian Williams, from ‘A Place Worth Living In’.