How much more can a koala bare?

  1. 15,020 Posts.
    lightbulb Created with Sketch. 92
    The community is screaming out for a Federal ICAC - how much more evidence is required?

    What was wrong with this, you might ask? Don’tpoliticians always game the rules to suit their political interests?


    Well, no. There are rules and laws in place thatrequire decisions to be made fairly, legally, and using due process, as theAuditor-General points out. In some jurisdictions, including in New SouthWales, putting party political interests ahead of the public interest counts asofficial misconduct – a serious crime.


    McKenzie has demonstrably broken ScottMorrison’s Statement of Ministerial Standards, admittedly one of the more meaningless documents in Commonwealth public administration.


    It’s worth reading the Standards carefully, if onlyto realise just how often the rules are broken. As detailed by theAuditor-General, McKenzie’s conduct in the sports rorts affair breaches thespirit and letter of the code. By my count, McKenzie has breached at leastthree of the Standards.


    On page 3, for instance, the Statement ofMinisterial Standards sets out its core principles, which includes theseparagraphs:

    Ministers must ensure that they act with integrity – that is, through the lawful and disinterested exercise of the statutory and other powers available to their office, appropriate use of the resources available to their office for public purposes, in a manner which is appropriate to the responsibilities of the Minister. Ministers must observe fairness in making official decisions – that is, to act honestly and reasonably, with consultation as appropriate to the matter at issue, taking proper account of the merits of the matter, and giving due consideration to the rights and interests of the persons involved, and the interests of Australia.

    The Standards also state under the “Fairness”heading that “ministers must be able demonstrate that they have takenall reasonable steps to observe relevant standards of procedural fairness andgood decision making” and that “Ministers are required toensure that official decisions made by them as Ministers are unaffected bybias.”


    It’s hard to see how McKenzie can possibly be saidto have demonstrated “procedural fairness” or ensured her decisions were“unaffected by bias.”


    Is thiscorruption? Yes, it is.


    Putting partypolitical interest before the public interest is a type of misconduct. The NewSouth Wales legislation, the strongest in the country, is a good template. TheICAC Act 1998 defines misconduct as “the dishonest or partial exercise of…official functions” as well as conduct that involves “a breach of publictrust”.


    If BridgetMcKenzie was a minister in New South Wales, she might be in serious legaltrouble.

    But McKenzie is a minister in the Commonwealth Government. At worst,she faces being demoted, but only if the Morrison Government comes to believethat this scandal is not simply going to blow over.


    If theMinisterial standards were worth a penny, Taylor would have been sacked for theJam Lands intervention, and stood down pending the police investigation overClover Moore’s forged travel spending. But he won’t be, because Scott Morrisonvalues political appearances more than he values ministerial integrity.


    Dodgy ministerslike Angus Taylor and Bridget McKenzie can survive in the current systembecause the Commonwealth has extremely weak anti-corruption safeguards. Unlikemany of the states, the federal government has no proper anti-corruptionagency.


    There is no bodywith the legal remit and the resources to investigate ministers or seniorpublic servants. The Australian Federal Police could theoretically do the job,but in practice it doesn’t want to; it is hopelessly politicised.


    All of this hasoccurred while Attorney-General Christian Porter is supposedly working on a newfederal anti-corruption body. But more than a year after announcing he waslooking into it, nothing has happened.


    That’s becausethe Morrison government doesn’t want an anti-corruption body. If one existed,it would be a very busy agency.

    https://newmatilda.com/2020/01/31/bridget-mckenzie-is-the-symptom-not-the-disease/
 
arrow-down-2 Created with Sketch. arrow-down-2 Created with Sketch.