The ironic intervention in the election campaign by former foes, Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser, on the 32nd anniversary of The Dismissal in regard to accountability is both timely and germane – but is anybody listening?
As we drift ever closer to authoritarian government, neither the Liberals nor Labor can hold their heads high over the virtual demise of accountability. The ugly reality is that we have an ever worsening democratic deficit.
Under the 11 years of Coalition rule, executive dominance has been taken to new highs (or should that be lows?), and ministerial intervention in the already laughable Freedom of Information scheme, purely to save the government from political embarrassment of its own making, is cynical in the extreme. Peter Costello’s grubby role in concealing vital information in regard to taxation bracket creep and the rorting of first home buyer grants are cases in point.
Labor is no better. We still have the precedent of the “McMullan Principle”, named for a former ALP minister who ordered his staff not to give evidence to a parliamentary committee, arguing dubiously that “ministerial staff are accountable to the minister and the minister is accountable to the parliament and, ultimately, the electors.” This suited the Howard government well when it came to the children overboard inquiry.
Then there is the role of Kevin Rudd in subverting Queensland’s FOI provisions by allegedly devising the tactic of wheeling barrowloads of documents and files into Cabinet meetings and having them all declared “Cabinet-in-confidence” and therefore exempt from FOI.
Comparable countries like Canada and Britain are far ahead of Australia in prising open the windows of government.
Canada has already acted to bring ministerial advisers under the “public officer” category which makes them accountable to an Ethics Commissioner while new UK prime minister Gordon Brown has rescinded an edict by his predecessor which certain unelected advisers could issue orders to public servants.
Accountability, alas, has become an empty word in Australia, and without the political will to restore it, it will simply atrophy altogether, if it hasn’t already. We are all the poorer for this shameful collusion.
After the appalling behaviour of our so-called foreign minister in relation to wheat sales to Iraq why would anybody have any residual expectation of ministerial accountability. The real problem here however is the lack of apparent concern by voters.
Where has the Opposition been in holding the Governemnt accountable? Two stories on Lateline tonight would be enough to bring down a government in any functioning demorcracy: the student “kidnapped” by ASIO and the Korean Kept illegally in detention.
“prize open the windows of government” ???? c’mon, you can’t even open the windows of Parliament house!