Bunyip aristocracy annoints its own

Since the last election the Albanese government has appointed 4 new community members to the committee, replacing 4 whose terms had expired, so the community members now are heavily skewed towards Labor administrations.

While the term “community representative” conjures up a picture of a jury of worthies who you might bump into any day at your corner store, in fact they’re rather more elevated than that. Only one is a male – establishment philanthropist Rupert Myer - and the rest encompass occupations like partner in KPMG (the government’s consultant of choice), trade unionist, former independent member of parliament now linked to the Teals, and professor of Muslim Studies.

The state’s representatives are almost all public servants, with two of them running their respective Department of Premier and Cabinet, one retiring from that position just two months ago, and another running her state’s public service.

That shows you how seriously the states treat these awards. And it couldn’t have hurt Dan Andrews that the former head of his Premier’s Department, Jeremi Moule, was on the council.

The council doesn’t decide who to consider, that is done by a nomination process, and anyone can be nominated. But that doesn’t mean they are powerless.

They do decide who to award, and what level of award they should bestow. This year there were 6 awards of the AC, 15 of the AO, 131 of the AM and 341 of the OAM, and the decision of which level to award lies solely with the council.

It’s extraordinary that McGowan and Andrews have received their rewards so quickly. It normally takes 2 years for a nomination to get through the process.

As public health was a criteria, it’s also strange the other state premiers in power at the time, particularly Gladys Berejiklian, whose state of New South Wales performed the best, weren’t awarded too.

It probably says something about how well-oiled their respective political operations are. Andrews and McGowan no doubt had their nominees in place right from the point of their resignation, if not before.

But that doesn’t mean the council has to accept a nomination, nor that they should give the highest award to the nominee.

Some premiers get the AC, but not all, and generally not until sometime after their term when any controversy around them has had a chance to die down.

In this case Andrews and McGowan are being rewarded for performance on COVID when there is a government inquiry running into our handling of it, as well as a Senate inquiry into excess deaths arising from it. Either could easily make adverse findings about either former premier.