Keeping a lid on information inside the Morrison government is a full-time job. Just ask Josh Frydenberg. Last week, as well as managing the country’s finances, the treasurer was busy suppressing the names of the thousands of large corporations that pocketed JobKeeper handouts while increasing their revenue.
Crikey detailed the lengths he went to keep the list of JobKeeper rorters under wraps. It’s important to remember there is no legal or ethical reason why the government cannot release the details of any company that receives public money. Public money is always accounted for — and this is $13 billion.
But this didn’t stop Frydenberg from intervening in a Senate motion that would force the tax commissioner to hand over company names which has put the commissioner in the “unprecedented situation” of facing jail time for contempt of parliament if he disobeys the Senate’s request.
It’s just one of the many attempts by the Morrison government to protect and conceal information that should be in the public realm.
National cabinet minutes
The prime minister has done everything he can to keep the so-called national cabinet under lock and key. First this involved hiring lawyers to take on a battle in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) to produce arguments about how the cabinet — made up of premiers from different political parties — was a cabinet under Australian law.
Federal Court Justice Richard White ruled it wasn’t, and therefore not entitled to cabinet confidentiality.
But if you can’t beat the law, just change it. Last week the government introduced a bill to Parliament that would prevent information discussed at national cabinet from being released, even under a freedom of information request.
If passed, the act would mean that information shared in the national cabinet wouldn’t even be released if the information was in the public interest.
The move has infuriated crossbench Senator Rex Patrick, who took the government to the AAT over the issue, and has now pulled out of negotiations with the government on an overhaul of environmental laws.
Brittany Higgins
We still do not know who knew what inside the prime minister’s office about the alleged rape of former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins.
Last week the secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Phil Gaetjens, suspended his inquiry for a second time. Gaetjens said he had put his investigation on hold due to concerns raised by the ACT’s Director of Public Prosecutions that it could “prejudice criminal proceedings now on foot”.
Initially he paused his inquiry in March after police advised him it might interfere with their investigation, but then told Senate estimates he resumed the work in May after police gave him the all clear. It was expected to be finished within weeks before this latest development.
Sports rorts
The other report that has gone missing in Gaetjens’ hands is the one about the sports rorts scandal. It was initially buried by the PM&C secretary, despite a summary finding there were “significant shortcomings” in the way former sports minister Bridget McKenzie decided on the grants.
Media outlets and other parties have since applied for access to the report under FOI laws, but have been rebuffed. They’ve taken their requests to the office of the Australian Information Commissioner, where the government has argued the report is covered by cabinet-in-confidence, and therefore exempt from the FOI Act.
Role of private consultants in vaccine rollout
Don’t even bother trying to find out what role private consultants have played in the government’s COVID-19 recovery efforts, and in particular its botched vaccine rollout. It doesn’t matter that the consultants have made millions under all manner of contracts — the answer you’ll invariably get is that the deal is “commercial in confidence”. Because of AusTender we know the total figures of various contracts, but have very little insight into what each contract has involved.
Some companies have even managed to avoid being listed on the AusTender website, with an $11 million vaccine contract to PwC “mistakenly” left off the transparency register by the Health Department. It’s up there now but we’re still none the wiser about what exactly PwC was actually being paid to do.
A national integrity commission
Last week the government nixed an effort to debate a bill to create a national integrity commission that would be much stronger than the government’s proposed toothless one.
Independent MP Helen Haines moved to suspend standing orders on Tuesday to force a debate over the integrity body, but the government voted it down.
It’s now been 1000 days since Morrison promised to create a federal corruption watchdog in the lead-up to the 2019 election. The Haines bill was first introduced in October last year.
Oh, and then there is ‘Op sovereign borders’ that imposes military censorship on Australians, when there is no war, the ‘national security’ blanket used to hide the invitation the PM lodged for a pedophile protecting pastor to attend the White House dinner, and the lies told to coverup SmoCo’s Hawaiian beach-beer-bar holiday. It just goes on and the electorate allow it.
Why is Labor being so quiet? Why aren’t they screaming from the rooftops about this corrupt, incompetent government?
Shorten would be vocal if he was Opposition Leader. Albanese doesn’t have enough mongrel in him to successfully lead Labor to government.
Damn good question, losing weight and dressing better won’t win Labor the election, if the boot was
on the other foot you can be sure they would be putting it in every chance they got; they’re already
doing it.
Please find and then support the magnificent Julian Hill, Federal Member for Bruce.
Couldn’t agree more JW, been banging on about it for years, but not only are they not screaming, they’re not even bothering to put bold, nation changing policies that would move this country forward at last and even capture the imagination of the largely disinterested under 45s. It’s all so demoralising.
IMO Comments like these just feed the Government narrative (a bit like last election’s ‘Kill Bill’ campaign).
Maybe follow Julian Hill, Andrew Leigh and others and you will see they are trying (and sometimes succeeding) to break through.
If you were paying attention you would see they are “shouting from the rooftops” but there isn’t much coverage from the Murdoch/9/Stokes Propaganda networks, and large parts of our “ABC” nor balanced scrutiny of the LNP.
For the simple reason that they have been, are and, should they by mischance stumble into office, will be equally averse to scrutiny.
EG – the author reports that “Last week the government nixed an effort to debate a bill to create a national integrity commission…Independent MP Helen Haines moved to suspend standing orders on Tuesday to force a debate over the integrity body, but the government voted it down.”
The government could not have voted it down had Labor supported the motion.
Until you can show me a link/evidence I am saying your post is not correct – Labor are on the record as wanting a real independent integrity commission.
Australian Politics Forum – Morrison Delaying National Integrity Commission (ozpolitic.com)
‘Blindingly obvious’ Scott Morrison is delaying national integrity commission: Helen Haines | The Canberra Times | Canberra, ACT
Talk is cheap – Labor had 6 years to do so and did nothing.
Same with whistleblower legislation reform, which was promised in the 2007 Manifesto – it took 5 years for the made-it-muchworse Dreyfus fudge to see the light of day and then only after Andrew Wilkie threatened to introduce a Private Members’ Bill.
No government, once ensconced, wants any curb on its right to do what it pleases without scrutiny.
Given the debacle of Australia’s national COVID vaccine rollout (sorry, Scotty, you can spin it any way you like – it is an unforgivable mess), all Australians need to know what private companies made millions out of it so there is no chance they get a single cent of taxpayer money ever again. The Federal government needs to be accountable (sorry again, Scotty – I know you hate the ‘A’ word) – because the taxpayers pay for it.
Please, please, please vote these secretive liars out at the election, if they have nothing
to hide why are they hiding everything they touch?
Gawd I hope the Labor government will kick off a “RC into the Corruption of the Preceding Coalition Government.”
And if they campaign on such I hope they follow through : and not dog it like Rudd did his “RC into the invasion of Iraq”.
“There are actually people out here who care about such things as ‘the way governments govern’, Albo.”
It needs to be an ICAC, so it doesn’t appear to be directed at their main political opponents.
It could cover this government’s corruption, but also things like the bugging of Timor and the subsequent cover up.
But the first thing I would want a new ALP government is to abolish the Home Affairs department and portfolio. That is too much power in too few hands.
Why on earth would they do that. It’s not like they’re beyond doing the same. Plenty of corruption in the labor camp over the years…