An interesting piece from the Sydney Morning Herald (mirrored in The Age) has come out this morning, and it warrants some scrutiny. It deals with the use of the issue of political integrity and the federal ICAC to galvanise Independent campaigns.
Introduction: Not a Good Start
This piece was in the Australian print media, so we should not expect great writing, but this is something else. The piece begins as follows:
A national row over trust in politics will be used to galvanise campaigns against the Coalition in marginal seats after Prime Minister Scott Morrison abandoned a pledge to set up a corruption watchdog and blamed Labor for not supporting his preferred plan.
Mr. Morrison would do well to remember that his party was the government for the last three years (when the corruption watchdog was an issue). It is not the role of the Opposition to support your policy. It is there in the name: opposition. By definition of forming a government, you had the majority necessary to pass legislation. The support of the Labor Party was not necessary. They refused to support it because they knew, like a tax agency set up by Al Capone, it would be toothless. To then turn around and blame them for having the nerve to not mindlessly fall in line with your policy is the height of arrogance. Moving on.
Morrison and Integrity – A Match Made in Hell, Part One
The Lodge Occupant has long opposed the idea of an Integrity Commission (draw your own conclusions on that one). One of the ridiculous arguments against such a body was that it would be a ‘kangaroo court’ where reputations would be tarnished. A judge rightly demolished this idea when he noted the small number of investigations [private] compared to actual hearings [public]. More cynically, The Lodge Occupant is annoyed that Bruz and The Bin Chicken resigned (voluntarily it must be remembered) due to ICAC hearings. Not a fault in the process, Scummo, sorry. I realise that the mafia sees the court system as biased against them, but there is a reason for that.
Morrison and Integrity – A Match Made in Hell, Part Two
A journalist actually had the stones to raise the issue of integrity with The Lodge Occupant on the campaign trail. Asked if he would set up such a body, The Lodge Occupant refused to commit. The next day a journalist asked him whether the fact that he had not done so amounted to a broken promise. The response has to be quoted in full to be believed:
No, it is not [a broken promise]. “I am not going to introduce a kangaroo court. I am not going to introduce a policy that I don’t think is in the nation’s best interests.
It would be corrupted by a Labor Party that’s more interested in playing politics with this issue than addressing the real issues.
I put forward a detailed plan, a detailed proposal, which the Labor Party rejects. I have honoured my proposal. The Labor Party don’t support it. That is where the issue rests.
Indeed it is a broken promise, you liar. You said you would do something and you did not do it. That is a broken promise. Next, as we discussed above, it is not a ‘kangaroo court’ just because Liberals happen to be on the rough end of its actions sometimes. Third, how is a national political integrity body not in the nation’s best interests? You really are a clown, you know that?
Finally, as we addressed above, it is not the job of the opposition to support government policy. The nerve it takes to blame Labor for not supporting your policy is gargantuan. You had the numbers in the House. You just wanted to play politics with the issue by putting forward some non-retrospective, toothless tiger of a body and using Labor’s refusal to support it as a wedge issue. Politics truly is a game to this man.
The Rise of The Independents: Zoe Daniel and Company
Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese stated the obvious (but it is no less valuable for that) when he said:
The reason why this Prime Minister doesn’t want an anti-corruption commission is sitting on his frontbench.
An interesting statement that is vague enough to avoid defamation charges, since it does not name a specific minister. However, it still throws the spear of corruption at the government. Labor also said that the only way to achieve an anti-corruption body was to elect a Labor government. Given the last three years of inaction, obfuscation and lies around the issue from The Lodge Occupant, it is difficult to disagree.
The Independent candidates in various seats are also making an issue of integrity in politics. Zoe Daniel in Goldstein, Kylea Tink in North Sydney among others have noted the essentially hamstrung position of government MPs. The Lodge Occupant’s refusal to address the issue leaves them with nothing of substance to say aside from the lies we dissected above. Another Independent of note is Helen Haines in Indi, who actually put forward a bill for a more powerful federal corruption watchdog. Naturally, the government rejected this. Dr. Haines has some credibility on the issue of integrity since she actually took action on the issue.
Distraction: Government MPs Attack The Independents
In a useful display of public stupidity, both Dave Sharma and Tim Wilson demanded that the Independents say who they would support in the event of a hung parliament. Textbook definition of a red herring there, gentlemen. They are not obligated to say where their vote will go since it may not even be an issue. The election has not happened yet and so the structure of the parliament is unknown. Morons.
This is actually ridiculous in another way too. Nothing says well-thought-out political strategy quite like making demands of the people who could hold the keys to the kingdom. Saying that the Independents should make their allegiances known before ‘making their next set of demands’ (where is the first one?) is likely to put them offside, is it not? Also, does this not suggest that these MPs think the Independents will have a major say in the next parliament? Reminds me of Mr Turnbull’s ‘forming majority government’ comment from a few years back.
Conclusion: You Are What You Do
The current government has a tenuous relationship with integrity. Morrison could not lie straight in bed, as his remarks on the campaign trail referenced above suggest. As Senator Wells said, ‘the fish stinks from the head’. The refusal to introduce a federal corruption watchdog, along with the terrible arguments against it, speaks volumes about the Morrison Government. This cabal of (allegedly) corrupt corporate criminals must be removed and a powerful, retrospective, non-partisan watchdog introduced.
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