CANBERRA – Paul Brereton, the head honcho of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), just pulled a Houdini, vanishing from his post faster than you can say “deep state.” Seems the shiny new anti-corruption outfit is already knee-deep in the very swamp it was supposed to drain. Color me shocked.

Brereton, in his oh-so-noble resignation statement, whined about the “ongoing focus on matters relating to me personally” distracting from the NACC’s “core purpose of strengthening integrity.” Translation: people started asking pesky questions about his dodgy consulting gigs and the Robodebt fiasco, so he's taking his ball and going home.

This whole NACC thing was always a joke, anyway. Another bloated government bureaucracy, staffed by the same revolving door of insiders and grifters who created the problems in the first place. Remember when they promised to investigate EVERYONE? Yeah, right.

Brereton’s little side hustle – moonlighting for his old buddies at the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force (IGADF) while supposedly cleaning up corruption – is the kind of thing that makes you wonder if these people even try to hide their conflicts of interest anymore. His previous investigation into Aussie troops in Afghanistan? Let's just say that wasn't exactly a profile in courage, was it?

Then there's the Robodebt debacle. The NACC initially gave a big middle finger to the victims, refusing to investigate the perpetrators. Only after a massive public outcry did they reluctantly reverse course. Now, conveniently, Brereton is out the door. Coincidence? I think not.

Anthony Whealy, from the Centre for Public Integrity (another outfit that probably survives off taxpayer gravy), is predictably calling for “an independent, transparent, merit-based appointment process.” As if that will change anything. The whole system is rigged, folks. It's a game of musical chairs where the same corrupt clowns just keep rotating into different positions of power.

But hey, at least Brereton is gone, right? One less swamp creature feeding at the trough. Although, knowing Canberra, they'll probably just replace him with someone even worse. Maybe they should just get the Jan 6th committee in to really clean house. It'd probably be less of a witch hunt than this.

The deeper you dig into these institutions, the more you realize it’s just grifters all the way down. No one is coming to save you. You have to pull yourselves up by your bootstraps and rely on the God-given rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Not some corrupt, self-serving bureaucrats!