Sabotaging Australian democracy

New York Times columnist and Economics Nobel Laureate Paul
Krugman has written an opinion piece entitled Conservatism’s Monstrous Endgame,
in which he relates how republican apparatchiks are corroding the foundations
of democracy. This is by the infiltration of democratic institutions by
partisan republicans whose loyalty is to party, not to principles. Krugman
considers this invasion is corroding the Republic and that this corrosion is
very far advanced. He maintains that this is because the Democratic Party is a
loose coalition of interest groups and the modern Republican Party is dominated
by what he terms ‘movement conservatism’ a monolithic structure held together
by big money, and the “closed … ecosystem of Fox News and other partisan media”1.

Krugman gives examples of dodgy judges, and government
bodies run by people antipathetic to the missions of those bodies. This also
happening in congress, such that now the Republican Party in congress is simply
a rubber stamp for the Trump administration. It also extends to creating
gerrymanders and disenfranchising people who are more likely to vote Democrat.
Even when Democrats win elections, Republicans strip offices, won by democrats,
of power, and Republican-stuffed courts strike down Democrat legislation on the
flimsiest of pretexts. David Frum, in his book ‘Trumpocracy: the corruption of
the American Republic’ warned that “If conservatives become convinced that they
cannot win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject
democracy”1,2. This is a watershed for the US. If this corruption of
democracy is not stopped and processes put in place to prevent it happening
again, the US will perhaps slide into a second civil war.

Most knowledgeable Australians would understand what Krugman
is explaining and perhaps shake their head in disbelief. But that would
indicate undue complacency, as very similar processes are manifest here. They
are just not quite as advanced as in the US.

What are conservatives in Australia doing or attempting to
do to pervert our democracy? This is what:

The Nation’s constitution prevents anyone running for
parliament who: is an undischarged bankrupt, either has citizenship of another
nation or has the right to that citizenship, has been convicted of a crime that
has a potential sentence of one year or more, holds any office of profit under
the crown, or has any direct pecuniary interest with the public service other
than as part of an incorporated company of more than 25 people3. The
Coalition government has consistently protected members of its parties, by not
referring them to the High Court unless the cases are too obvious to ignore4,5.
At the time when this blew up, there could have been as many as 20 Coalition
members who were at risk of being ousted because of concerns about their
citizenship, or rights to citizenship. The coalition referred very few of them
to the High Court. In addition, it is suspected that Peter Dutton may be
ineligible under Section 44, in that his family trust owns two childcare
centres in Queensland, which has agreements with the public service to provide
childcare services in exchange for subsidies6.
In the United States voter identification legislation
is used mostly by Republicans to suppress the number of voters who are most
likely to vote for the opposition7,8. Given that it seems the
Liberal Party is taking their guidance on strategy and tactics from Trump, it
is not surprising that several Liberal Party members have called for similar
voting identification laws to be enacted in Australia, as a way of suppressing the
number of poorer voters who are more likely to vote for the Labor Party.
The Coalition Government has stacked government bodies mostly
with what have been termed ‘Liberal mates’. This perhaps has been worst in the
Administrative Appeals Tribunal. These included former federal Liberal MP,
Robert Baldwin, former Nationals MP De-Anne Kelly, former state Liberal MPs
Michael Sutherland, Joe Francis and Steven Griffiths as well as former federal
Labor MP David Cox. Full-time members of the tribunal receive a remuneration
package of between $190,000 and $244,000 per annum and are appointed for up to
seven years10. The Fair Work Commission has been stacked with
ideological pals, several of whom have worked for large mining companies, their
lobbying groups or other employer lobby groups11. Infrastructure Australia
has had Rod Hook appointed to the board, and he has already made statements
critical of Labor after his appointment12. Scott Morrison’s former
chief of staff, Philip Gaetjens, has been appointed to the job of secretary of
the Treasury, while another former Liberal staffer, Michael Brennan, has been announced
as chair of the Productivity Commission13. Gary Johns, former Labor
politician, and former senior fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA),
the ultraconservative neoliberal ‘think tank’, was appointed as commissioner of
the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) by then
Assistant Treasurer Michael Sukkar, in what many in the sector considered to be
a bizarre appointment, given that the IPA is covered by the ACNC14. In
2014, the Abbott Government appointed John Lloyd to the position of Public
Service Commissioner, but he resigned in 2018 amid questions over his conduct
and allegations of bias15. He had previously been a director of the
IPA and it was his subsequent contact with that ‘think tank’ that was found to
breach to code of conduct of the Australian Public Service16.
The Coalition government also abolished organisations
with which it disagreed and has set up organisations to hammer who it perceives
to be its enemies. In 2012, the Labor Government set up the Road Safety
Remuneration Tribunal to set pay and conditions for drivers in the road freight
industry. The body was set up in response to a study which showed that a low
rate of payment was the likely cause of the slower improvement in safety for
freight transport when compared with non-freight transport. This low rate encouraged
drivers to cut corners, overwork and speed. This Tribunal was abolished by the
Coalition Government in 201617,18. The Australian Building and
Construction Commission (ABCC) was set up by the Howard Coalition Government in
2005. It monitored the building sector and enforced laws restricting industrial
action. It did this by having ‘coercive powers’ which were not available to any
other industrial regulator. These powers gave the commissioner the right to
compel people to attend interviews and removed the right to silence. Failing to
comply could result in gaol time19. This organisation was designed
in part to deal with the alleged criminality and militancy of the then Construction
Forestry Mining and Energy Union (now CFMMEU with the addition of ‘Maritime’),
whereas the union says it makes it harder for the union and workplace
representatives to act on health and safety concerns. The Registered
Organisations Commission (ROC) was set up by the Turnbull Coalition Government
as an independent statutory entity that regulates and educates registered
organisations, and to increase financial transparency and accountability in
registered organisations20. While the ROC is said to regulate all
registered organisation, it is mostly concerned with regulating unions21.
Indeed, it was the ROC that was implicated in the shemozzle surrounding the
raids on the Australian Workers Union (AWU)22. Prosecutors were
confident a crime was committed in relation to media leaks and considered it
would be in the public interest to pursue charges against the supposed
perpetrator, but they lacked sufficient evidence to achieve a conviction. The
Australian Federal Police believe relevant evidence may have been destroyed23.
Back during the tenure of the Fraser Coalition Government,
minister Michael MacKellar brought a colour television back into the country,
but listed it on the customs form as a black and white, thereby avoiding import
duty. He was sacked from his ministerial position as was the Customs Minister
John Moore, who handled the debacle poorly. When the Howard Coalition Government
came to power, a ministerial ‘code of conduct’ was instituted, and in Howard’s
first term five ministers were sacked for not adhering to it. Of course, the
code was therefore dumped, such that the latter Howard years are held up as an
example of how ministerial responsibility has gone by the wayside24.
It is now worse. Michaelia Cash or a staffer were somehow involved in the AWU
raids. She was defended by Turnbull and Morrison, despite that likelihood.
Mitch Fifield gave a $30 million ‘gift’ to Foxtel with no documentation25.
Barnaby Joyce moved the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines
Authority as a way of shoring up his support in New England, despite it
damaging the organisation25,26,27. Then there is the endemic misuse
of travelling allowances to attend private events, and undertake private
business25,28,29. Of course, most of these are relatively small beer
compared to the $80 million water buyback rort of Barnaby Joyce and Angus
Taylor30. Then there is the $444 million ‘grant’ to the Great
Barrier Reef Foundation, which that organisation had not asked for31.
The Coalition government has used Royal Commissions as
political tools. It instituted the Home Insulation Royal Commission to attempt
to damage the opposition and its strategy in countering the Global Financial
Crisis25. It instituted the Unions Royal Commission in an attempt to
discredit Bill Shorten and former Prime Minister Julia Gillard32. When
Julia Gillard was considering the Royal Commission into Sexual Abuse of
Children, the government used its religious hacks in the Murdoch media to argue
against it33. Conversely, when the Coalition government was forced
to hold a Royal Commission into the Banking and Financial Services Industry by
the banks writing to the then Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, to head off a
revolt by backbenchers, it hamstrung the inquiry by only allowing it a little
over a year and forced a very restricted terms of reference on Commissioner
Hayne. Despite this, Hayne uncovered an enormous number of crimes and
misdemeanors34.
The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) identified numerous
breaches of electoral law and simply warned the perpetrators. Most of these
breaches were with regard to authorisation of the campaign material. That is
the little quick ‘authorised by…’ statement at the end of any electronic media
advertisements, or at the bottom of any print advertisements. The Electoral Act
prevents “misleading or deceptive” claims only about the process of how to
vote, but does not cover misleading or deceptive claims in political
advertising35. In this recent federal election, the Coalition lied
and misled the populace to an extent I have never seen before. Death tax; car
tax; house tax; retiree tax; every one of these was a lie36. This
will continue as long as people are able to be duped by such lies. As the
neoliberal paradigm falls further into disgrace, and as the Coalition inadvertently
shows its regressive social agenda, in the face of Australia becoming more
progressive, this lying will only get worse. It is ironic that a large
proportion of the Coalition are Christian nutters, and lying is now their modus
operandi. So much for ‘thou shalt not bear false witness’.
Despite GetUp’s failure to wipe out all the ultraconservatives
it targeted in the recent election (the only one to go was former Prime
Minister Tony Abbott), the government have indicated that they will do
something to blunt its impact37, which in the 2016 election, was more
significant38. The government have previously tried to link GetUp to
the Labor and Green parties without success, despite using Murdoch hacks to
give the opposite impression38. GetUp has been referred by the
Coalition to the Australian Electoral Commission and it has ruled in GetUp’s
favour three times (2005, 2010 and 2018). The government will seek to limit
GetUp’s campaigning power by introducing rules to restrict volunteers outside
polling booths to those attached to registered political parties and independent
candidates. Given that GetUp is probably the largest community group of
politically active people in the nation, attacks on it are antidemocratic.

These
are just the tip of the iceberg of activities undermining our democracy. Others
can be listed under such headings as Murdoch, money, scapegoating, among
others. Such methods as these will continue as long as the Coalition are in
power, and as long as the voter turnout in elections is allowed, or encouraged,
to decline. I can only reiterate “If conservatives become convinced that
they cannot win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will
reject democracy”. That is what is happening in Australia. The Coalition are
trying their damnedest to sabotage our democracy to allow them to remain in
power in perpetuity.

Sources

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Sabotaging Australian democracy