MAAATE!: Bribe-proofing the public purse against good blokes

by Bernie Dowling

IN 2017 a man named Paul Pisasale is facing criminal charges including corruption in public office, extortion, assault, and attempting to pervert justice. In 2016 Mr. Pisasale was re-elected Mayor of the Queensland City of Ipswich with 83.45 per cent of the popular vote. Something is broken at councils in south-east Queensland. By 2017, it could not be ignored. The Crime and Corruption Commission, CCC, called an inquiry into the 2016 elections for councils of Moreton Bay Region, Ipswich, Logan City and the Gold Coast. Journalist Bernie Dowling unpicks the evidence at the inquiry and presents insider yarns from his 17 years as a reporter in Moreton Bay Region. An award winner for humor Dowling presents a funny and thoughtful analysis of what happens when you buy your democracy off the back of a truck.

316 pages, Paperback

Published November 6, 2017

About the author

Bernie Dowling is an Australian writer working in the fields of journalism, fiction, and non-fiction.
His first novel is the neo-noir Iraqi Icicle.
His lnon-fiction Maaate! Bribe Proofing The Public Purse Against Good Blokes is about corruption in local government.
The author is publishing a four-book series on film noir. The first volume Noir Dirt Cheap was published in 2023.
Dowling is a boutique publisher.

Reviews

[John Curr · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fascinating book for citizens who regard it as their duty to have an interest in the process of government of their community. The edited transcripts from the hearings make them accessible and expose the extent of legal (and sometimes illegal) corruption which mass political disconnection allows to flourish.
Most interesting were the solutions proposed by people who have studied the system in depth.... Viable solutions (needing some refinement, perhaps) but made virtually impossible because any politician trying to implement them would be crushed by the vested interests who benefit from the corruption.