Worms in our political core

My deepest reaction to the continuing revelations about the lobbying style of Brian Burke and Julian Grill in Western Australia is despair about the health of the Australian political system.

What is being revealed is unacceptable all round. Here my emphasis differs from that of Prime Minister John Howard.

Burke and Grill's activities themselves are, to my mind, more important in the long run than the question of the links between the twice-disgraced Burke and Kevin Rudd and/or Senator Ian Campbell, to name just two.

What they reveal is the depths to which such senior public figures, a former premier and former senior minister respectively, have fallen.

What they also reveal is the weakness of the public office-holders, especially ministers, and businessmen who have dealt with the corrupt lobbyists.

Politicians have always gained my support as flawed human beings like the rest of us, mostly with the public interest at heart. They did their best in an often thankless profession under a relentless media microscope which magnifies their weaknesses and foibles. While knowing that they are not saints, I have always bridled at attempts to demean them as a class.

The frequently negative popular perception of politicians is well documented. Surveys show that many respondents have long believed that governments favour the big interests over ordinary people, and rate politicians low on questions of ethics and honesty. But these seemed to me to be harsh judgments made out of ignorance of their job.

But perhaps it is time to reconsider. It is no longer convincing to say that any system has a few bad apples because there are too many at the moment.

The scandal revealed by the Crime and Corruption Commission in Western Australia comes after many other incidents in state politics elsewhere, in NSW, Tasmania and Queensland in particular. Numerous ministers and MPs, such as Brian Green in Tasmania and Gordon Nuttall in Queensland, have been forced to either resign or to appear in court after their retirement because of alleged criminal offences. These can involve conflicts of interest or personal failings, such as domestic violence charges.

The current NSW state election campaign pits two undeserving political parties against one another.

One, the Government, deserves to lose but the other, the Opposition, doesn't deserve to win.

Premier Morris Iemma has had to sack several ministers and MPs and Opposition Leader Peter Debnam came to office after a succession of predecessors had been brought down by inter-party brawling.

The Western Australian revelations also closely follow the AWB scandal in which nine senior AWB employees, condemned by the Cole inquiry, may face criminal charges for corrupt dealings with the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq.

All political parties must take some share of the blame for this state of affairs. The prevailing political culture appears to condone it or at least regards it as a necessary evil.

But Labor must take the larger share of the responsibility for the current situation. This added culpability may be just because it holds office in all eight state and territory governments (mathematically that would be so); but its record in this regard is truly awful. It needs to clean up its act. Labor members and supporters should demand that its representatives do so if it is to become once again the party it ought to be.

Perhaps Labor is forgiven too easily by its own supporters. Its history as a party of battlers up against the big end of town leads some to be too easy on the party, even when some of its representatives are shown to be corrupt.

It is an inadequate response to say that the other side is worse because, for instance, Howard tells lies or gives the inside running to business mates too. That is equally appalling but no excuse for Labor.

Former prime minister Paul Keating, for instance, is wrong to say Burke and Grill should be seen merely as small-time lobbyists, just like that dodgy but appealing TV crook, Arthur Daley, or the Labor fundraiser in Sydney, Johnno Johnson. That sort of white-wash gives an insight into a certain sort of political culture.

What are the impacts of all this?

It is a serious distraction from governing and from policy development. It turns political campaigning too easily into personal attacks and adversarial competition.

If that is to be the case from now until the federal election then it should be condemned, not accepted with a shrug of the shoulders as robust politics.

The constant stream of ministerial resignations and sackings must have an impact on the talent left in the ministries. There is no endless supply of good, competent people. All ministries have a tail, and the weakness of it is magnified if reserves are being called on too frequently.

There should be a lot of encouragement for the independents in these revelations. The record of independents for probity is, on average, higher than that of the major parties. Some of them, such as federal MP Peter Andren, have long called for greater transparency in government.

Finally, it is lucky for our political class that we have compulsory voting in Australia. Compulsory voting has many benefits, but it also disguises popular disillusionment with the system. It removes the option of not voting at all.

What if Iemma and Debnam had to face a third of the electorate not voting at all out of disgust with the political machinations?