“First and foremost, we need a plan to get us back to being able to provide the foundational services of health, education, housing, transport and justice services. The opposition lacks both the will and the talent,” writes legal columnist HUGH SELBY.
At the core of a credible democratic political system and public service is “public trust”. It’s a foundational piece.
When we elect people to represent us, and when we employ other people to implement the government’s policies, we need to be able to trust them – elected and employed alike – to do so, not for their interests, but for ours. That’s the public trust in action.
Human nature being what it is there is, and always will be, a tussle between personal and public interests.
When personal interests, such as ambition, holding on to power, covering up misconduct, are not kept in check then public trust is first jeopardised, then diminished, and finally lost.
The loss of trust is often gradual. For most of us “trust in others” is essential for family life, friendships, relationships in sport and work. Breaches of that trust are often accommodated until something breaks the camel’s back. From that event there is no return.
Singular events can also destroy trust. Within relationships the most obvious one is having an affair. Within friendships and business it is an act of treachery.
Within politics it is putting self-interest ahead of party. If I say “Barnaby”, I have said enough.
Perhaps that is why the timeless expression, “the price of liberty is eternal vigilance” is never out of fashion, though the vigilance can wax and wane.
The waning of public trust is matched by an increase in cynicism and disengagement.
Each corrosive step along the path of venality and corruption becomes the new normal, with a parallel increase in public disengagement. There is little point in trying to do anything about it when nothing will change for the better.
Openness
Good government requires ready access to information, and to the reasons why decisions are made and not made. With such access the voters are informed and capable of assessing strengths and weaknesses.
That’s why the freedom of information law (FOI) is so important. Without those laws it is all too easy to get away with misconduct.
Which is not to say that our present FOI laws are adequate. Far from it. The rate of refusal of information continues to climb. Sadly, the Albanese government is committed to making that refusal even easier.
Bad government, venal government, corrupt government denies access to information, interferes with attempts to hold them accountable, and uses false propaganda to keep voters ever content.
Such egregious conduct becomes normalised. It no longer draws attention.
The ledgers do not lie
We can put political allegiances to one side. The ledgers do not lie. The ACT government coffers are empty, the interest costs of profligate overspending are huge. But the populous says and does nothing, much to the delight of those who caused this debacle.
We have a light rail system which, south of the bridge, goes nowhere useful, but the costs of which means the underfunding, this year, next year and for years ahead, of our health services, education, corrections, park services, housing, roads, and now justice.
Andrew’s gang has no money to cover prosecution costs, or legal aid for those doing it tough.
They tell the community how seriously they view domestic violence, but they don’t fund the prosecutions office to have sufficient, expert staff to go to court.
Nor do they fund Corrective Services so that offenders can turn their lives around. Our purpose-built rehabilitation prison is now just a warehouse with both inmates and guards bored witless.
Andrew’s gang is happy with an integrity commission that doesn’t live up to its name. It goes so low as to try to prevent judicial oversight of its largely too little, too late activities.
A year of sleep on full pay
There was a time when we could, collectively, have said: “Don’t worry. We can put it right at the next election by voting the other side in”.
Not now. After a year of sleep on full pay the opposition made itself known this week with a blast-from-the-past “criminalise” approach to the scourge of illicit drug use.
How daft can they be? There are insufficient experienced police to enforce it, not enough prosecutors, not enough legal aid for defended cases, no rehabilitation for those convicted.
Wilful blindness on their part. This is a government in crisis and what is needed is solutions, not sideshows. First and foremost is a plan to get us back to being able to provide the foundational services of health, education, housing, transport and justice services.
The opposition lacks both the will and the talent.
We must look elsewhere, and soon.
As columnist Robert Macklin recently observed in CityNews, it’s time to recognise reality. Our government and our opposition have failed us.
But there is hope. The Self Government Act provides (in section 16) that the governor-general can dissolve our Assembly, appoint a commissioner to clean up the mess, and allow a breathing space before elections.
Next week isn’t soon enough.
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