We’re being duped, but there is hope

Simon Bevilacqua | Mercury | 5 February 2022   

TASMANIANS are being played as fools by both major political parties, whose priority is not the wellbeing of the public, but quid pro quo deals with political donors.

What’s worse is this shameless distortion of democracy is brazenly happening before our eyes.

I couldn’t believe it when I read in the Mercury this week that Premier Peter Gutwein could not confirm when Tasmania’s electoral donation reforms would be in place.

What a heartless lack of commitment and denial of the public’s desire to clean up the shady world of political donations one of the key reasons community respect for politics and politicians is dwindling. To fix this issue would help shore up trust in our MPs and institutions so as to avoid continuing down the path to the political crisis and social mayhem engulfing the US and elsewhere.

Mr Gutwein’s predecessor, Will Hodgman, promised he would fix this issue years ago after a huge backlash against what was widely perceived as the buying of government by the hotels lobby in the 2018 state election campaign.

Even some stalwart Liberal supporters felt sullied by the way secret money donated by faceless donors was spent on the 2018 pro-pokies campaign to elect the Liberals.

But Hodgman is long gone and the public is still waiting.

Not so the major political donors to the dubious 2018 campaign such as Federal Hotels and the hotels lobby, who had their interests met by a compliant Labor Opposition siding with the Liberal government to give them pretty well what they wanted in terms of poker machines.

Upper House MP Meg Webb has rightly called for laws to limit donations and make them more transparent.

The Australian Electoral Commission revealed that for the 2020-21 financial year the Liberals received $3.4m in donations, but disclosed just $260,000, while Labor disclosed $180,160 of its $1.17m, and the Greens got $877,047, disclosing $219,613.

Remember, the government also refused to disclose which businesses won a share of $26m of taxpayers’ money during the pandemic.

Could it be some are among the Libs’ secret donors?

He who pays the piper calls the tune.

IT is astonishing that Education Minister Sarah Courtney is away on an overseas holiday during a pandemic, just months after her government opened state borders, and weeks before children have to go to school.

How could an elected public servant act with such an apparent lack of affection for her electorate? That Courtney is now in lockdown in France after testing positive to Covid is verging on farcical.

Meanwhile, Courtney’s colleagues are sinking like stones in a tsunami of public frustration, anxiety and fear about the pandemic.

The Gutwein government enjoyed a palpable sense of public confidence for the best part of two years after the pandemic hit. The Premier put Tasmania first, at risk of friction with other states and the federal government.

I wrote two very supportive columns, praising Gutwein for his public health priority and for resisting the urging from some from the top end of town who happen to be Liberal donors to reopen borders.

The Premier’s arbitrary decision to open on December 15 was irrational, failing to consider Omicron, which had been circulating the world for weeks. It was a throw of the dice, and it may still pay off, some bets do win but it was a gamble on people’s lives, and anyone with friends and relatives who are elderly or vulnerable knows the unnecessary fear and anxiety it has caused. Since Gutwein lowered the drawbridge and let the pandemic run amok there has been confusion and, as the Premier concedes in his TV ad campaign, anxiety.

Businesses closed, court cases are delayed, surgeries are postponed, Tasmanians imposed their own unofficial lockdown, some elderly are increasingly isolated, some disabled live in fear, and hospitals and services are creaking. Most of us now doubt the assurances of those we once trusted that things will get better, and fear worse is to come and the worst is still a long, long way off.

Little wonder parents, told to send their kids to school, are worried. How do their children feel? These events could have a disturbing affect on children, who pick up on the unease and tension even if unable to process the detail.

Don’t get me wrong, it is hardly surprising Courtney needs a holiday. She has a staggering portfolio of ministries Education; Skills Training and Workforce Growth; Disability Services; Children and Youth; and Tourism, Hospitality and Events. How the hell could any one person be across the detail of such a diverse range of responsibilities?

If ever there was an instance to prove we need to revert back to a 35-seat Lower House, this is it.

And what of potential for conflicts of interest between Courtney’s responsibilities?

It’s a minefield.

As Minister for Tourism, Hospitality and Events, she must have felt the full force of the relentless push to open the borders, with lobbyists expecting unbridled support and advocacy.

As Minister for Children and Youth and Minister for Education, she could have been expected to advise the government to wait to open the borders until children and teachers were suitably vaccinated for Omicron, until ventilation in schools had ramped up, and until there were enough rapid antigen tests.

As Minister for Disability Services, she could be expected to speak up for those at risk of losing their lives.

Is it possible she took holidays in exhaustion after these conflicting roles? Or in protest at her government’s arbitrary decision to open the borders prematurely? Or was going on holiday at the time Tasmanians need her most just another poor decision?

THE violent eruption of animosity in response to Grace Tame snubbing the PM on Australia Day was precisely the polarising reaction I feared.

A bitter gulf was exposed a vast chasm between some Tame supporters, empowered by her act, and detractors offended and insulted by it.

The snub was met with a storm of anger, like that I haven’t seen before in relation to the former Australian of the Year, and a wave of applause.

Accusations were hurled like grenades, as some on both sides took the liberty of misrepresenting, exaggerating and inventing their opponents’ motivations and opinions.

Meaningful debate was lost in a muddle of angry distortions.

Polarisation was rife.

In last week’s column, I wrote that had I had the ear of Tame, I would have advised her not to snub the PM. I was rebuked. I was told my advice was based on the fact Tame is a woman and, as such, was discriminatory and misogynistic.

Tame explained her actions, saying “abuse culture” is dependent on “submissive smiles and self-defeating surrenders” and that she knew the consequences of “civility for the sake of civility”.

I did not make my suggested advice because Tame is a woman. I would give the same advice to a man in a similar situation. And I did not advise that she be submissive, nor that she surrender.

The reason I would have advised Tame not snub the PM is that I agree with her and her cause and want it to prosper.

Using her platform as Australian of the Year, she has taken a taboo that had been forever swept under the carpet and dragged it to the forefront of public consciousness.

In doing so she has recruited a huge supporter base, not least from the many victims of abuse nationwide, but also from those like myself who empathise with her.

This groundswell of support needs to continue to flood like a deluge across the divides of politics, gender, age, faith and experience as a uniting force.

It is conceivable this bold movement could change our society for the better, not just by reforming laws but, more substantially, by altering personal attitudes.

Snubbing the PM was always going to excite some while enraging others as a tactic, it works on a divide-and-conquer level that the likes of Donald Trump exploit to advantage. If used time and again, this incendiary tactic can lead to violent divisions that can verge on civil war, such as that we have witnessed in the US in recent years.

The political and social crisis that rages in the US is a result of the wholesale abandonment of customs such as manners, etiquette, mutual respect, diplomacy and civility that had helped keep communities together despite their differences of opinion. Yes, some of these cultural conventions can be tangled up with outdated mores that can facilitate an abuse culture, and we have to be aware of that possibility, but if mutual respect is to be thrown out the window, then batten down the hatches and prepare for a rough ride.

The great social activists who achieve longstanding fundamental and historical change are those who bring people with them, such as the historical figure of Jesus, Tutu, Gandhi and Mother Teresa.

Far from civility for civility’s sake, it is a matter of civility for our own sake and that of a cohesive community and functioning democracy.

Yes, it’s a hard road.

IMPOSE limits and real time disclosure on political donations, outlaw pork barrelling, revalue mutual respect and manners, and stand by Grace Tame and others in tackling injustice and inequity, and we are on our way to a better world.

The more we diminish and disrespect our institutions, including the Office of the PM, the more despairing we are as a people, and the more prone we are to violent extremes.

Read Meg’s media release.

See more of Meg’s recent media.