Australia is one of the most secretive democracies in the Western world, according to those in the know. International experts have deemed our governments more secretive than the United States in the way we go about the business of government. In my estimation it is career politicians killing democracy, which is at the heart of this problem. Careerism invariably puts the interests of the exponent over that of the community when it comes to cutting the mustard. Politicians in Australia like to stay in their comfort zone when it comes to governing the country or the state. Avoiding the glare of the media and the voting public, whenever possible, is always high on their agenda.
“The Australia Institute’s inaugural 2024 Transparency Summit brought together experts, whistleblowers and those working to ensure the interests of all Australians are represented in our policy-making process.
“We are sleepwalking towards disaster when we accept the idea that the more secret we are about decision-making, the safer we’ll be.” “
Careerists In Government Diluting The Democratic Experience
Politicians like to limit their subjugation to the public to election cycles. An intense overt dip into accountability to the voters once every 3 years or so is enough for those who gain office. Once established in their ministry they do their best to keep the processes of governing secret, wherever possible. The Australian people witnessed via the Royal Commission into the infamous Robodebt scheme the sacrosanct nature of Cabinet, where ministers shelved their integrity in favour of Cabinet solidarity. Knowing that the scheme was illegal was no barrier to the support of it for 6 years by ministers in the Coalition governments of Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison. Despite the findings of the Royal Commission and the recommendation to the NACC to investigate culpability further – no one in the government or public service has been held accountable. A reminder that half a million Australians were wrongly and illegally told they owed large amounts of money to Centrelink and some vulnerable individuals took their own lives in despair. A settled class action against the government cost tax payers $1.8 billion in reparations.
Still, no one is found to be legally responsible – this is the rotten fruit you get from careerism in politics and government, as protecting their own arses is top of the bill over all other considerations.
Politics As A Profession Poisoning The Well
Anthony Albanese came to power on the promise of reforms to government secrecy in the wake of the corrupt Coalition governments. Remember Scott Morrison secretly appointed himself to the head of some 6 additional ministries with the connivance of the Governor General of Australia. The AUKUS deal to take Australia nuclear involved no public consultation, discussion or debate. Not only was it a betrayal of a deal with the French it was all done in backroom deals. AUKUS still remains shrouded in secrecy despite costings involving some $360 billion and the fact that we may end up with no submarines. It has opened our borders to American military manoeuvres and an increased presence in our territorial waters. All this on the promise of subs way down the road in an uncertain future. The Albanese federal government has carried on with the AUKUS farrago, which is costing this nation a fortune for us to become an outrider for US aggression to check the rise of China. White skinned postcolonial racist fears are easy to provoke in Australia.
The truth is that America is in an economic war with China and will use its military stick to maintain a hegemonic grip globally.
Leadership Should Come At A Cost
The allure of government has crushed Albo’s enthusiasm for transparency, whistle blower protections, and an effective NACC it seems. Career politicians killing democracy are everywhere you look on both sides of the aisle. Is it time to instigate limits on the amount of time politicians can stay in the game to avoid this kind of thing. As an ancient historian, I am reminded of the fact that governing democratically in ancient Greece and Rome was often attended by much crueller fates for those who attained leadership positions. The price of power became death or exile in many instances, when the tide turned against demagogues and despots. Power should not be some cosy affair, in my opinion, as this reeks of collusion and rigging the game. The two party preferred political system in Australia promotes a club like atmosphere, where careerists look out for each other’s interests to the detriment of the citizenry. It used to be just a boy’s club but now we have women playing the game too. The Teal independents have been a good injection into the closed confines of these parliamentarians and we need more independents to break the stranglehold on democracy. The ALP government has been a disappointment since the Voice fiasco – where they were hopelessly outplayed by Peter Dutton and the forces of darkness. However, it is wise to remember that the other side is way worse and why we find ourselves in the economic crises we are in. It takes years for policies to impact upon economies and the Coalition had a decade in power federally.
I always think that Angus Taylor must be waiting for his nose to grow sharply, as he makes inflammatory statements about the economy blaming Labor.
Our career politicians are, in the main, wealthy property owning Australians. Obviously, they represent those in the electorate more like themselves than those they do not share lifestyles with. We all see a world around us in our own likeness to a great degree, it is merely the way things work. Roughly, Australia is made up of a third of adults who own their own home outright, a third paying off a mortgage, and a third renting or such like. Younger folk are doing it tougher economically because property prices and rents have risen exponentially over the last period. Since former PM John Howard brought in the capital gains tax discount, inflation in the residential property sector on an aggregate basis would be around 382% over the last 30 years. It is much harder to afford to buy a house now than ever before in the history of Australia. Is this a good thing? I suppose it depends upon where you are sitting on the wheel of fortune currently.
Democracy Not Served Well By Careerists
Career politicians killing democracy via their mutually feathered nests and desire for smooth sailing whilst governing – is happening right under our noses. Secrecy shrouds their activities much of the time in modern governments. The national security furphy is wheeled out again and again. The Internet means that our records are never really safe in government and the private sector. We live in a sieve like world in the 21C. Convenience has come at the cost of security – this is a fact of life. In my own experience, many Australians leave the governing of things to a small group of individuals. This lack of civic duty is commonplace in many of the organisations and clubs I have been a member of. “Leave it to someone else,” this is the popular position. However, we are compelled to vote by law at all three levels of government. This conjunction of apathy by nature and artificially construed involvement on the day of voting produces a decidedly mixed bag outcome in terms of political awareness. Governing politicians know that the majority of Australians are not looking their way unless the media direct them to. Scrutiny is patchy at best and non-existent for large swathes of the electorate. Of course, everyone likes to bitch about their leaders – it is human nature. Whistle blowers in Australia are prosecuted and not protected by the law. The only person to be gaoled over the Australian war crimes in Afghanistan has been the whistle blower David McBride.
“A former Australian Army lawyer who leaked classified documents to journalists exposing details of alleged crimes by Australian special forces in Afghanistan has been sentenced to more than five years in prison, a verdict criticized by press freedom advocates, who say it delivers a chilling message to potential whistleblowers.”
Australia is a disgrace on this basis, a place where ordinary citizens are not supported in speaking truth to power. Our governments and institutions are not looking out for those who have the courage to blow the whistle on wrong doing and corruption. Careerists are, instead, looking out for their own positions on the greasy pole. The senior public servants in the Robodebt betrayal of the people were keen examples of this. Kathryn Campbell and her ilk.
“A senior public servant who oversaw the unlawful robodebt scheme has been stood down from her position at the Department of Defence following the royal commission findings. Kathryn Campbell, who was previously the head of the Department of Human Services, has been involuntarily stood down from her advisory role at Defence, AAP has confirmed.”
If wrong doers are not punished and held to account – what kind of message does this send to those tempted by the rewards of such behaviour now and in the future? Senior public servants doing the bidding of their ministerial masters to gain advancement and job security – when they know what they’re doing is wrong. The NACC is a whole new level of toothless tiger, it is an invisible toothless tiger. The voter support for an anti-corruption commission helped get the Albanese government elected. Where is it and WTF is it doing? Robodebt??? Nothing to see here, according to the NACC. The Paladin affair??? Nothing here either, apparently. We know that this is not true but the overly narrow remit of the NACC fails the Australian people in holding the transgressors to account.
Career politicians killing democracy need to be reined in. Term limits are required and no golden parachutes into the private sector via the revolving door either. Leadership must have its costs. Politicians need to be held accountable. If you truly want to lead it must be a transparent process, not some cosy cushy ride. Scott Morrison has skulked off to some golden parachute within the secret AUKUS web of insider armament corporations. The greatest liar in recent Australian political history is sitting pretty. Meanwhile, the Australian electorate are none the wiser as per usual, as to the details of the biggest rip off scam ever perpetuated on the Australian nation – $360 billion for nuclear subs which may never eventuate. This leaves us more dependent upon American hegemony than ever before – we will be ceding more and more control over our national security to a country which could elect a crook and compulsive liar in Donald Trump to the presidency. Careerist politicians doing backroom deals, which feather their own nest and we, the tax payers, will pay for them for decades to come.
Former PM Paul Keating told us that it is the worst deal in history! You have to drink the American, paranoia over China, kool aid to believe AUKUS is any kind of sensible deal for Australia.
If we, as a nation of dummies, continue to leave all the important decisions to a small coterie of careerist politicians we will continue to discover that multinational miners pay bugger all tax and royalties for our resources, that duopolies in every sector are crap for our bottom line as consumers, that outsourcing the work of government to giant consultancy firms leads to opaque transparency and acts of economic betrayal, and a plethora of other bad deals like Transurban and road tolls making intercity travel prohibitively expensive. We need to wake up and start paying attention.
Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump.