Australia’s political leaders are failing democracy

Australia’s political leaders continue to put self-interest and political expediency ahead of the democratic principles they claim to uphold, writes Dr Mark Beeson.

IT’S HARD TO BELIEVE that Australia’s political class could serve up a leader even more dishonest, inept and uninspiring than Scott Morrison.

After all, in a ringing endorsement of his parliamentary colleagues, Morrison was the man who secretly appointed himself to multiple ministries.

Morrison also demonstrated his empathy and public relations skills by holidaying in Hawaii while the nation burned — a disaster made more likely by his links to the fossil fuel industries and failure to even acknowledge, much less do anything about the climate crisis.

You might think even the dimmest politician would want to steer well clear of Scotty’s underwhelming legacy, especially when they come from the allegedly more progressive side of politics. And yet one of the first actions Anthony Albanese took after replacing Morrison was to endorse his predecessor’s woefully misconceived AUKUS project without even the most perfunctory cost-benefit analysis or discussion with senior colleagues, let alone the ALP rank and file.

Given the growing chorus of criticism about the almost certainly undeliverable AUKUS agreement, it is even more extraordinary that Albo seems to have been emulating yet another of the Morrison Government’s policy own goals.

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Sporting metaphors are irresistible given that the policy in question is a rerun of the “sports rorts” affair. At a time when a growing number of Australians had nowhere to live, the tone-deaf Morrison Government doled out taxpayer funds to shore up marginal electorates via the “Community Sports Infrastructure Program”. The exposure and extent of the blatant pork-barrelling overseen by former Minister for Sport Bridget McKenzie eventually led to her resignation.

Even if we put aside the questions of whether any government should have a minister for sport or be in the business of building facilities for gun clubs, whether or not they were members (McKenzie was), you have to wonder about the judgement of anyone who might think repeating this folly was a good idea.

Albo does. The Marrickville Golf Club was promised $6 million via an invitation-only grant program. At least the Morrison Government had the decency to pretend that the disbursement of public funds had a competitive element to it.

At one level this is just yet another relatively trivial case of using public money for blatantly political purposes. Nothing surprising about that, perhaps. On the contrary, getting access to the perks of office and being able to help mates is the way politics increasingly works. What’s different these days is agreement between dominant political parties not to contest or draw attention to this underlying rationale, allowing them to divide the spoils when it’s their turn in office.

Political scientists refer to this as the cartelisation of democratic politics in which ‘electoral competition no longer occurs over which party can effect change to benefit its constituents, but rather centres on “managerial competence” and precisely not trying to effect systemic change’.

As long as privileged insiders are benefiting from the continuation of business as usual, the dominant parties will wait for their turn at the publicly funded trough. Well-heeled outsiders are welcome, as long as they pay their way. The current Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) investigation into the astounding levels of corruption in the New South Wales Liberal Party reveals the cosy links between donors, lobbyists and – surprise, surprise – property developers that oil the wheels of politics.

WA’s resource riches fuel a politics of greed and grievance

Despite its vast resource wealth, WA’s politics remains fuelled by corporate power, parochial resentment and populist grievance.

It’s not just spivs from the property sector either. On the contrary, Western Australia not only has dodgy developers – good on ya, Bondy – but the State Government, no matter who’s in power, sees itself as an arm of the fossil fuel industries that are central to the local economy and which provide lucrative jobs for former politicians to top up their measly government pensions.

Just ask former WA Premier Mark McGowan (Mineral Resources; BHP; Bondi Partners) and his Treasurer, Ben Wyatt (Rio Tinto, Woodside); they’re both in APM Human Services International, too, whatever that is. Poor old Mark only got a $250,000 per annum state pension, apparently. Talk about struggle street. No wonder he’s got so many jobs.

We might like to comfort ourselves with the idea that at least we’re not as brazenly corrupt as the Trump Administration, which is taking self-enrichment to nauseating new heights. But if we don’t want to end up with the sort of authoritarian, hopelessly debased regime that is taking shape in America, we need leaders who can recognise the dangers and act to address them.

Not much chance of that happening, I fear. There are some thoughtful and independent voices in parliament, but they are not to be found in the major parties. Short-termism, political expediency and self-promotion drive the major political parties.

It's little wonder many young people despair about democracy and look to “strong men” to put things right. It’s not just Germany that has a problem with unpleasant people on the Right wing of politics either. The failure of mainstream politics opens the door to more alarming populist alternatives from which Australia is not immune.

Dr Mark Beeson is an adjunct professor at the University of Technology Sydney and Griffith University. He was previously Professor of International Politics at the University of Western Australia.