Shining a light on dark places.

Shining a light on dark places.

By Kaye Lee on March 27, 2014 • ( 4 )

The
attempt to sell the repeal of Section 18c of the Racial Discrimination
Act has led to a new page in the “phrases to repeat” Coalition script.
Everyone from Tony Abbott and George Brandis to Tim Wilson is saying
that it is the responsibility of the community to “shine a light on dark
places”.


I realise they are referring to bigotry and racism but I think it is a laudable sentiment which should be embraced and extended.


I would like a light shone on Manus Island and Nauru and “on-water
operations”. I would like to see a cost benefit analysis of our offshore
detention policy. I would like to see a total bill for Operation
Sovereign Borders and the incarceration of innocent people.


Add up how much we are spending on orange life rafts and unmanned
drones and having a naval fleet patrolling. Add up how much we are
spending on flights for politicians, aid workers, guards, journalists,
asylum seekers etc to fly backwards and forwards to Indonesia, PNG,
Nauru, Christmas Island, Cambodia, Solomon Islands and everywhere else
we are trying to make complicit in this inhumanity. Add up how much it
is costing us to keep 30,000 people locked up in limbo.


Next, this government is carrying out a concerted campaign to
discredit unions using the Craig Thomson case to justify spending
hundreds of millions on a Royal Commission and the re-establishment of
the ABCC. I find this hard to understand as Mr Thomson is going to gaol –
doesn’t this show that we already have a system of oversight by which
corrupt officials can be prosecuted? Aren’t the police and ICAC better
suited to deal with bribery, corruption and intimidation?


The $24,000 that Mr Thomson misappropriated pales into insignificance
compared to the amount of money that politicians have been forced to
repay for fraudulent expense claims that are brushed off as “mistakes”
if someone questions them. I would like a light shone on
parliamentarians’ entitlements and for the Finance department to
exercise better governance.


I would like to shine a light on who is actually running our
government. Every time Tony Abbott meets with world leaders Peta Credlin
is sitting at the table. I know she runs his office but surely there
are some diplomats, economists. cultural, trade or defence experts that
deserve a spot in front of her.


I want to know why Cardinal Pell and Maurice Newman feel empowered to
advise the government on climate change. I want to know why Mark Textor
feels empowered to wade into foreign affairs on Twitter. I want to know
who are the puppet masters. (see Andrew Robb video).


Speaking of puppet masters, I want to shine a light on political
donations, and on paid political advertising which is banned in the UK.


Coincidentally, in a recent freedom of speech ruling in the European Court, the UK government successfully argued that the ban on paid political advertising was
necessary to achieve the “legitimate aim of avoiding the distortion of
debate on matters of public interest by unequal access to influential
media by financially powerful bodies.”


The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights held, by a
majority of nine to eight, that the long-standing ban on paid political
advertising on television and radio in the United Kingdom does not
contravene the right to freedom of expression in article 10 of the
European Convention on Human Rights.


Wealthy corporations, organisations and individuals have unusual
access to, and influence over, the parties and politicians to whom they
donate. Hundreds of millions of dollars are donated and then spent on
advertising. Not only is this a ridiculous waste of money, it makes our
political parties beholden. They are focused on chasing sponsorship so
they must appease those with the means to bankroll them. People back
winners so they must concentrate on being popular rather than governing.


The media must have a good relationship with a politician to gain
access and to be fed the leaks. The politician must have a good
relationship with the media because they choose what the next headline
will say and which stories will be reported. This symbiotic arrangement
has degenerated so far that politicians and journalists are amongst the
least respected professions in the country.  The following arrangement
doesn’t add to the public’s trust.

“The $600 million lease on the current RAAF fleet of two
Boeing 737 business jets and three smaller Challenger 604 aircraft will
expire next year and the government will seek agreement from media companies to limit criticism of any decision to opt for bigger planes


According to senior government sources the new plan would involve
aircraft such as the Airbus A-330 or Boeing 777 that can fly hundreds of
passengers over long distances with fewer stops. The Boeing 777 and
Airbus A-330 each cost about $250 million and both can carry in excess
of 200 passengers in VIP configuration.”

And why should the media not report on this? Because the current
planes “are too small to carry a full complement of press gallery
journalists and crews” so let me spend my hundreds of millions in peace
and you get a free ride to come film me. The taxpayers are footing the
bill for Tony’s tame journos to be flown around the world presumably for
free.


I would like to shine a light on corporate lobbyists and the deals
they make with politicians. After leaving Parliament, an inordinate
number of ex-pollies secure plum jobs with corporations they dealt with
in their portfolio.


After bugging the East Timorese cabinet rooms under the guise of
building them as a foreign aid project when he was Foreign Minister,
Alexander Downer became an adviser to Woodside Petroleum, the company
that was negotiating to exploit the oilfields. Peter Reith was appointed
as a consultant to defence contractor Tenix immediately after resigning
as defence minister. Health minister Michael Wooldridge signed a $5
million building deal for the Royal Australian College of General
Practitioners and days later, after resigning as health minister, was
employed by the college as a consultant.


I would like to shine a light on the truth about debt and deficit.
Between PEFO and MYEFO, under the Coalition government, the projected
deficit for the year blew out by $17 billion. $10.2 billion of that was
due to spending decisions made by the Coalition, notably an $8.8 billion
gift to the RBA, an extra $1.2 billion for offshore processing, and tax
breaks for those with super balances over $2 million.


Quoting from the Coalition “phrases to repeat” sheet, you will hear
every one of them say Labor left us with a debt of $667 billion. Well to
quote Joe Hockey’s own MYEFO document which he produced in
mid-December:


“Net debt is forecast to be $191.5 billion in 2013-14 and reach $280 billion in 2016-17.”


The figure of $667 billion comes from Hockey’s MYEFO estimation of
the possible gross debt in ten years’ time. Surely between now and 2024
he will be able to come up with a solution or will we still be hearing
about Labor’s debt?


Where we need a glaring spotlight is on the free trade agreements
that we are rushing headlong into. With Peter Dutton insisting that our
health system is unsustainable why on earth would you enter into
agreements that will unquestionably send our PBS into a death spiral?
Allowing the evergreening of patents and other measures to benefit the
pharmaceutical companies (who just so happen to be generous sponsors of
the pollie pedal) will potentially spell the end of generic
medicines with a huge increase in the price we pay for our drugs.


I could go on but all this light shining is burning me out. We need
all of you to be torch bearers for our country. Do as Tim Wilson urges
us to do – shine a light on the dark places where this government is
trying to lead us.