Malcolm Turnbull

Former Australian Prime Minister, Mr Malcolm Turnbull said during a recent Q&A TV program that Mr Trump poses a threat to the Rule of Law - should he be elected to the American presidency - without recognising, in any way, that American Presidents typically do not uphold the Rule of Law.? ? ?

This is what happens when the Head of Government is the Head of State. The drafters of our Constitution were smarter than that; not that it has done us any good.? They clearly did not foresee that power and money would increasingly corrupt our system of government.

Mr Turnbull went on to say that you don’t have democracy without the Rule of Law, you have autocracy and tyranny; while at the same time recognising that Australia is very divided.

Mr Turnbull should know that division in a democracy means that the State is not upholding the Rule of Law; as does rampant crime and corruption, cost of living and housing crises, caustic cultures, and policy flip-flop.? It means that government has been functioning irresponsibly.

The Rule of Law was defined by the World Justice Project (WJP) as “a durable system of laws, institutions, norms, and community commitment that delivers four universal principles: accountability, just law, open government, and accessible and impartial justice.”? This means, among other things, that the government has an obligation to function in line with the Principle of Responsible Government.

In the words of William H. Neukom, the co-founder & CEO of the WJP : “The Rule of Law is the foundation for healthy communities of justice, opportunity and peace.”

In its most simplistic form, it is a governance principle that means that no-one is above the law, not even the government.? ?

I have worked with all levels of Australian governments for more years than I care to remember, and have not come across a single chief executive who operated within the law since 1987.? I should not have to remind Mr Turnbull of the Robodebt fiasco. ? This has typically been my experience with the chief executives. They just don’t want to know.? They used to joke that they could get any outcome they wanted by picking the people involved in the process.

The Robodebt scheme was a budget measure introduced by the Abbott Government, expanded by the Turnbull Government and defended, until the last minute, by the Morrison Government.? From 2016 to 2019, the Robodebt Scheme raised more than half a million inaccurate Centrelink debts through a method of ‘income averaging’, which has since been ruled unlawful.? The 2022 Royal Commission saw the scheme as: “a human tragedy”.

Mr Turnbull would have done better to just apologise emphatically for the poor state of the Nation, and otherwise butt out.