Money and Politics

I haven't posted in a while. It is winter down here so it must be something to do with hibernation. I have also been very busy, reading all your blogs, even if some of you have dropped off the perch ,London Lass being one of them . The article below was published in The Age a few days ago.

Our governments over here both state and federal are forever hiding deals behind Contracts they call 'In Confidence'

From public transport to health, education to new roads. Across the board we are being hoodwinked. Often at the behest of big business, accountants and economists.
Woof

Money is the root of all political evil

• Kenneth Davidson
• July 10, 2008

Two decisions on advertising have had a toxic impact on good governance.

POLITICIANS are bastards. But they are not necessarily born that way. I still believe that even the most cynical politician enters the game with at least a smidgen of idealism. But they are as much shaped by society as shaping it.

Reporter Royce Millar, who has been covering the details of Melbourne planning processes for a long time, gave Age readers an insight into how much the Victorian Labor Government is worth to the big end of town.

A good example is the sale for $80 million of 27 hectares of land, which housed 300 intellectually disabled residents in the Kew Cottages, for a medium-to-high-rise housing development. The money would be used to socially integrate the inmates into the suburbs and build additional new accommodation for those on the acute waiting list. Bollocks. The most cost-effective way of extending quality accommodation for the intellectually disabled would have been on site, a sensible proposition when there are 3000 intellectually disabled people on an urgent waiting list for this type of housing.

Furthermore, the site is unsuitable for housing redevelopment. Princes Street, which runs past it, is already gridlocked in the morning as cars attempt to get onto the Eastern Freeway and into the city via Hoddle Street. The problem is compounded by EastLink, which will pour another 20,000 cars onto the Eastern Freeway in the morning peak. This intensification of the problem of CBD congestion will be used as further justification for the north-west tunnel.

This is classic planning Melbourne style — one slice at a time. If there is any life left in politics in Victoria, Premier John Brumby will rue responding yesterday to Millar's article by stating: "There are corporations who want to donate to political parties … that's a good thing, that's a sign of a healthy democracy."

For arrogant stupidity this must rank with Transport Minister Lynne Kosky's 2007 statement: "Do I want to run a train system? I don't think so."

If Brumby were sincerely interested in a healthy democracy, he would begin by publishing information about the decision-making of his Government so voters could make up their own minds whether they are better off funding schools, hospitals, roads and other infrastructure as public-private partnerships rather than out of borrowings or consolidated revenue. If sincere, he would undertake proper environmental impact statements and public benefit cost analysis of major projects such as channel deepening or the Wonthaggi desal plant, and he would explain why the Government has refused to conduct an independent inquiry into the decision to persist with franchising public transport.

This is a bipolar Government. It makes decisions on water, brown-coal electricity generation and freeways while ignoring how these decisions relate to the global water, climate warming and "peak oil" crises. Money politics is the root of this bipolarity. It encourages secrecy, excluding the bigger picture. It undermines public ownership of decisions even when they are defensible, fuels cynicism about politicians and political processes and encourages public apathy, a characteristic of public life more readily identified in dictatorial regimes without the superficial trappings of democracy.

But let's be fair to our politicians. The huge sums paid by corporations to political parties detailed by Millar are not pocketed personally by the politicians. They are used by political parties to fight elections. Most of the money ends up as profits for the owners of the electronic media.

The cost of a 30-second TV spot covering Melbourne in peak viewing time is about $10,000 and the same spot covering the whole of Victoria will cost about $15,000 dollars. Commercial TV stations run on ratings. Politicians spouting politics, as distinct from behaving badly in restaurants, are a ratings turn-off. The average coverage of most elections on commercial stations during the height of an election campaign is a couple of minutes each day.

For most voters, who get their primary information about the world from the electronic media, their main impression of the campaign will come from these ads. Advertising is about persuasion, not information.

To their credit, a majority of the 1991 federal parliament passed legislation banning political advertising during elections on the electronic media. The legislation was challenged by the commercial broadcasters. A majority of the High Court found in favour of the broadcasters on the grounds that they found the legislation violated an implied constitutional freedom of political communication.

Who could possibly believe that election advertising was vital to free speech except the High Court and the media moguls concerned they might lose (then) about $30 million every three years from state and federal elections?

This High Court majority also found in 2005 that the government could spend $40 million on taxpayer-paid advertising of the most partisan nature (WorkChoices) without specific parliamentary authorisation or even the legislation being presented to parliament. These two decisions have had a toxic impact on good governance of Australia because of the power they put into the hands of ordinary politicians such as John Brumby, who will do whatever sharp practice the courts will allow to stay in power.

Kenneth Davidson is a senior columnist. Email: kdavidson@theage.com.au