Senatorial surveillance - when near enough is way too close

The more progressive occupants of the plush red benches of the Upper House provide a last line of defence against the Federal government's mistreatment of black Australia.

In days of yore, ALP senator John Faulkner was the master inquisitor. During Senate estimates hearings, Faulkner used to eat public servants for breakfast. It was a joy to watch senior bureaucrats attempt to fend off the incisive attacks of the Labor Senate leader's velvet-gloved fists.

The objects of his attention would often show all the composure of Bogart's Captain Queeg in Mutiny on the Bounty, as the mariner nervously twiddled his marbles, looking ready to come unstuck at any moment.

In mid-February the hacks again gathered to the fray for the Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs Additional Budget estimates. No fewer than 44 senior public servants were on hand at this bunfight to help the committee untangle the administrative spaghetti. At least I presume that was their role.

Legendary Aussie Rules football commentator Jack Dyer was a hard man who felt that “what happened on the ground should stay on the ground”. He thought tribunals were for wimps and would refuse to “dob in” evil-doers during his radio calls. Scenes of carnage on the field were invariably greeted with Dyer chortling that "I better not say anything in case I say something".

It seems that Dyer's Dictum is also embraced by some witnesses at Senate estimates hearings - despite assurances from the committee chair that they cannot be put in the stocks and pilloried with rotten fruit regardless of what they say.

ALP Senator Trish Crossin bravely attempted to extract some sort of accountability from the government for its grievous neglect of the large Northern Territory remote community of Wadeye. The futility of seeking blood from a stone was writ large during this exchange between Crossin and OIPC boss Wayne Gibbons:

Senator Crossin: The tripartite steering committee, I take it, has not met since the last estimates?

Mr Gibbons: I am not aware.

Senator Crossin: I think it is a “yes” or “no” answer.

Mr Gibbons: I do not think it has, Senator.

Senator Crossin: “No” then.

If the good Senator had to work this hard for a straight answer to a simple question about administrative processes, then the task of actually identifying the extent of the government's neglect in areas like housing, health, and education would prove Herculean.

To further deter hapless members of the public from taking an interest in the workings of government, expenditure is broken down into a tangled web of “outcomes” and “output groups”. These have user-friendly titles like “Whole-of-government coordination of policy development and service delivery for Indigenous Australians”. Ask the person next to you on the bus what they think that mouthful means.

There is also a sinister Orwellian slant to outcome names like “Strong and resilient communities”. Saying it don't make it so. The government's remarkable insensitivity to the desperate needs of many Indigenous communities sometimes makes it hard to see just where the “strong and resilient” bit comes in.

Estimates hearings have become the place to preview the government's latest punitive terminology, which is designed to reassure worried suburban voters who are ever fearful that the blackfellas might be getting something for nothing.

So now you can add “no school - no sport” to the familiar and much more catchy “no school - no pool” mantra that we've come to know and love. It seems that the mob out at Wadeye have had it too good for too long - living 17 to a house - and that the government is finally going to tighten up.

Mr Gibbons couldn't hide his admiration for his boss Mal Brough's decision to suspend funding for housing following the community disturbances in Wadeye. The government tap was turned off until the miscreants were identified and undertook to work to restore the damage.

Tough luck for the majority of community members who took no part in these disturbances and suffered much inconvenience because of them. Taking a line through this logic, the government should also close all the supermarkets in Sydney until every shoplifter has been brought to justice.

The mist of obfuscation that swirls around these hearings is not particularly reassuring to those on the outside looking in. While I'm certain no one actually tells fibs, it's equally true that the plain truth is at a premium. In fact, the only thing worse than having Senate estimates hearings, would be not having them at all.