Australia's judicature has a flawless motto that goes along the line of that no one is above the law, but this is all great in theory, where there is another reality.
Let's put this into perspective where the simple folk can understand.
If a person from the masses is on welfare, meaning payments in order to live obtained from the taxpayers, and cheats the 'system', there are penalties and a real scenario of imprisonment for fraud / theft and whatever other offences the prosecution can add on.
So what happens when a 'leader', politician, law maker, your local MP obtains payments in order to live from the taxpayers and commits fraud / theft against the people?
Well from current mainstream media reports, not much.
So, they get 'stood down'. Big deal. They still get to keep their fat parliamentary pension. They may even be given another portfolio by their buddies.
The reality is that the executive treats the people of this colony as its slaves, as seen by the executive's actions where in all cases (bar a few) they are above the law when it comes to criminal offences of theft or fraud or other Commonwealth offences, where their 'brethren' in the judicature keep them out of prison.
When the slaves "cook the books" e.g. against the ATO (Australian Tax Office), there is an encroachment into the bank account and monies (alleged debt) are withdrawn, unlawfully where the victim never sees the garnishee notice.
No such 'luck' with the criminals in the offices of the executive.
The social security company Centrelink delegated to providing welfare for its recipients fraudulently wrote tens of thousands of letters per week for false debts the recipients never had in the first place, and placed the "guilty until proven innocent" law into action that prevails in Australia, then passing on the alleged debt to a debt collector again unlawfully, without the recipient ever seeing the garnishee notice.
Centrelink then made it difficult for people to contact them by removing phone numbers from contact lists.
Are these the actions of an honest business?
Again a case of fraudulent actions by the executive without consequence or liability.
The $64,000 question could be:
Would a lawmaker really want to make new laws that exposes themselves and their defrauding brethren in office?
Australians are truly governed by criminal scum in office.
Let's see how the colonialists "cook the books"
in an article from 10 Jan 2017 by smh.com.au of the headline:
Federal MPs failing to certify their expenses
Politicians including Bob Katter, Trade Minister Steve Ciobo and Labor senator Sam Dastyari have failed multiple times to confirm they spent taxpayer money within the rules, according to Department of Finance lists.But Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten have stopped short of demanding their party members catch up on all outstanding expenses.
Since 2011 federal MPs have been asked each six months to sign a form promising their use of travel, accommodation and office entitlements was "in accordance with the parliamentary work expenses framework".
Health Minister Sussan Ley, who has stood down pending an investigation into her Gold Coast travel expenses, certified all her expenses as legitimate.
But many politicians have missed batches and some are repeat offenders.
Queensland MP Bob Katter has never signed a certification form.
"It is not possible and would be very improper for him to sign a statement which sets out every single expenditure across his two offices when he is rarely in the offices," a spokeswoman for Mr Katter said when challenged in 2015.
While certification is voluntary, the man who advocated for the system, former Labor senator John Faulkner, thought public naming of those who failed to comply would be incentive enough.
Bob Katter has never certified his work entitlements. Photo: Darrian Traynor
"I certainly would not want to be a parliamentarian so named," Mr Faulkner told a Senate estimates committee in 2009.
The former senator appeared as missing in two certifications - once in 2014 and once in 2015. But the Department of Finance has now apologised to Mr Faulkner, who never received the forms to sign because they were sent to an incorrect email address.
Sussan Ley, under fire for her use of travel allowances, has certified all her entitlements as being within the rules. Photo: Mark Jesser
Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, Steve Ciobo - who missed periods in 2011, 2014 and 2016 - said he would need to check with a staff member why that was.
But he blasted certification as "incredibly bureaucratic" and "ridiculous" for asking politicians to verify purchases down to the level of office printer cartridges.
Mr Ciobo said when he did sign certifications it was always with the amendment: "to the best of my knowledge".
A spokesman for the Prime Minister said: "There are many legitimate reasons why a MP or Senator may not have certified their travel by the time the travel records are published."
"Most often it is because a MP or Senator is clarifying or querying the expenditure report."
Liberal MP Andrew Laming has missed four periods, as has Liberal senator Sean Edwards, according to the Department of Finance website. Labor MP Michael Danby and Senator Dastyari have each missed three, while Labor MP Julie Owens, listed as missing one, said she had already responded and blamed a clerical error for her appearance on the list.
A spokesman for Senator Dastyari, who resigned as a shadow minister over a donations scandal, said his office believed certification forms had already been supplied to the department but they had now been resubmitted.
Catherine King, the Labor health spokeswoman leading the political attacks on Ms Ley, was listed as missing two certifications in 2011 and 2013.
"We were of the genuine belief these had been certified," a spokeswoman for Ms King said. "We have checked with the Department of Finance and it appears to have been an oversight. This will be rectified today."
A Labor spokesperson said the government should "stop dragging their feet" and legislate to force all MPs to certify, as proposed by an independent review last March.
But Opposition Leader Bill Shorten would not say whether he would demand his MPs to verify all outstanding expenses.
Senator Nick Xenophon, who had not certified the last period, said he was "really annoyed" with himself, took full responsibility for the omission and would fix it as soon as he returned from Indonesia.
He said the expense list first submitted to him by the Department of Finance wrongly listed a business class flight.
As for parliamentarians who take an unreasonably long time to certify, Senator Xenophon said "there ought to be penalties".
Other former politicians listed as not having certified expenses include Joe Hockey, Phillip Ruddock, Andrew Robb, Bob Carr, Bob Brown, Craig Thomson and Clive Palmer.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story has been amended to correctly report the number of times Julie Owens appeared as not certified, which was originally incorrectly put at three.
This story has been updated to include the apology by the Department of Finance to John Faulkner
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