March 13, 2015 7:00am by David Farrar

Am sure this would not happen in the NZ Clerk’s Office

The Deputy Clerk of the Legislative Council was stopped by police allegedly in possession of a baseball bat and a balaclava and police are investigating whether he was tracking the vehicle of his immediate superior, the Clerk of the Legislative Council.

Nigel Lake, one of WA’s most senior parliamentary staff, has been suspended from his $166,216-a-year job after he was arrested by police late on Tuesday, February 17, in Drabble Road, City Beach, allegedly wearing a black hoodie, latex gloves, black tracksuit pants and black shoes.

Mr Lake was on foot and arrested within a kilometre of the home of the Clerk of the Legislative Council, Nigel Pratt.

The staff in the Clerk’s office tend to be some of the most polite, helpful, and non-antagonistic people around. The thought of a Deputy Clerk trying to beat up the Clerk, in NZ, is beyond fanciful.

Mr Lake was deputy clerk of the Council under the previous clerk Malcolm Peacock and acted in his position when Mr Peacock suffered an illness in his final two years in the job.

So maybe resentment he didn’t get the job.