One of Sydney’s most successful and experienced barristers and QCs, David Rofe has decided to stand for the Legislative Council determined to work to restore its role as a house of review particularly with respect to major Government policy and expenditure initiatives.

Mr Rofe, who cut his political teeth in local Government over 14 years on the Woollahra Council as both Mayor and Councillor, believes it is time to restore transparency and responsibility to Government in NSW.

“The Legislative Council was not established to be a rest-home or a sinecure for party hacks,” he said.  “It was established to be a house of review and that is something that has been sorely missing from NSW politics for most of the past 20 years.”

“If NSW voters allow me the honour of representing them in the Legislative Council I will work to ensure that the upper house appropriately reviews policy and that the Government acts in a manner that is fair, honest, transparent and in the best interests of the people,” Mr Rofe said.

Foremost on Mr Rofe’s agenda is rigorous appraisal of Government policy and actions, particularly those which stand to impact the taxes and charges paid by the people of NSW and the long-term viability of the economy.

“Over the past two decades we have been witness to the implementation of Government policy that has been based on short-term political expediency and tax-payers have been left to cover the cost,” he said.  “Given my background in the law, I will come to the upper house with the intimate understanding of contractual law necessary to ensure the interests of tax-payers are protected.”

“It is crucial that we ensure that commercial and administrative bungles such as the Cross-City Tunnel are not repeated,” Mr Rofe said.  “Public/Private Partnerships have their place, but not at the expense of good public policy.”

He said that over the past two decades, the tax-payers of NSW had been confronted by a series of crises relating to Government policy decisions and initiatives which might have been avoided if the members of the upper house had chosen to act as more than a rubber stamp.

Mr Rofe said that NSW was now facing a critical period and the manner in which it moved forward would depend on ensuring that political parties of all persuasions were made appropriately answerable while in Government.

“It is time to inject some transparency into Government at the same time as eliminating waste and mismanagement,” he said.